


The Sunflower Diner

by scilessweetheart



Series: Timeless [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Alternate Universe - High School, Diners, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:42:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scilessweetheart/pseuds/scilessweetheart
Summary: It's the 1970's and one of the biggest movie companies in the country is Stark Industries. Tony Stark, the son of CEO Howard Stark, is beginning his senior year of high school. With his dad pressuring him into taking over the company and an unfortunate incident leading to him needing a job, his year is looking bleak. When he meets Steve Rogers, however, things seem just a little bit brighter.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Timeless [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881589
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys!! Welcome to my newest story!! This is a story I wrote for NaNoWriMo that I put a marvel spin on!! I'm really excited about it. I've got a playlist for it on Apple Music called "NaNoWriMo Writing Mix" but if you can't find it/don't have apple music/ don't want to do that, I'll put it in the notes at the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy!!

“Anthony! You better be up right now!”

  
The boy’s eyes shoot open with alarm. He glances to the left at his clock, only for the red numbers to read 8:00. He scrambles out of bed and rushes to the closet, grabbing the first clean pair of jeans he can find. He almost trips heading over to his drawer, but somehow manages to grab a top with no injuries. Luckily, he had done his laundry yesterday, so his favorite shirt, a worn-down Rolling Stones tee, is right on top. He decides to keep on his socks from yesterday, so he can quickly throw on his black Vans. At this point, he doesn’t bother to tie them. He slides into his bathroom across the hall to brush his teeth. He looks in the mirror and decides that, while his brown hair is messy, it isn’t bad enough to brush.

  
He runs downstairs in a record four minutes. His backpack sits on the chair in the kitchen next to a piece of toast. His mother stands next to it nursing a cup of coffee, already dressed for work. Maria Stark is one of the best defense attorneys in the state of California. Because of this, she works long hours, so Tony is shocked that she is even here right now.

  
“You need to stop being late, Anthony. It’s your senior year so you don’t need to be collecting tardies like last year.”

  
“Yeah, I know, mom.” He sighs, shoving the toast in his mouth.

  
“I’ve got to work late, a huge client from Malibu is flying in. Call and tell me how your day goes, okay?”

  
“Yeah, sure.” He grabs his keys off the counter and kissed her cheek. “Bye, love you.”

  
“Bye.”

  
When he opens the door, he sees Pepper already in his driveway waiting for him. She is wearing a short pale blue dress and white converse, with her red hair curled around her shoulders, looking the opposite of his thrown together casual look. Her arms are crossed, and she is scowling at him.

  
“You’re late!” She scolds him, pulling impatiently at the passenger’s door handle,

  
“I know! I’m sorry!” He apologizes, unlocking his blue 1965 Ford Mustang.

  
“It’s the first day of school and we are already late. At this rate, we will have detention for tardiness in a week.” She complains as she climbs into the passenger’s seat.

  
“If you care so much, drive yourself!” He counters, with no real snark, pulling out of his driveway and out of the neighborhood.

  
“Why would I when you live next door? I’m trying to be better for the environment.” She tries to convince him, though he knows that isn’t true.

  
“That’s a lie. It’s because I stop and buy us coffee on the way to school.” He gives her a grin, before pulling into the drive-thru of the nearest coffeeshop.

  
“That may be a bonus.” 

  
He glances at the white duffle bag in her arms. “Do you have cheerleading practice today?”

  
“Yeah, I’m a little nervous.”

  
“Hoping to make captain?” He teases.

  
“You know it. It’s my last year, so I better.” 

  
“What time does it end? Do you want me to wait for you?” 

  
“I’ll let you know. I don’t want you to wait too long for me.”

  
“No, it’s fine. It’s not like I have anything to do at home.” He shrugs before turning away to avoid her knowing look.

  
“What’s wrong with being at home?” 

  
“Nothing.”

  
“Are you fighting with your dad again?” She pries, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he shakes it off.

  
“We aren’t talking about this right now.” He hates how well she can read him, despite his conscious efforts not to let her know how he’s feeling.

  
“Fine.” 

  
Tony pays for their drinks, ignoring Pepper waving a hand full of change at him. She never accepts the fact that Tony pays for their drinks, despite how many times this has happened. They get their drinks and pull away, sitting in silence. That is, until Pepper puts her feet up on his dashboard. 

  
“Are you kidding me? You are not going to wreck my new car.”

“These are new shoes!” She protests but moves them anyway and just like that, the tense air evaporates. “Do we have any classes together? I skipped all the APs and I know you didn’t, but maybe English or an elective?”

  
“What’s your elective?”

  
“PE.”

  
He groans. “Definitely not. I would pick anatomy over PE any day. I have English sixth period. You?”

  
“Fourth.”

  
“No classes together?” He frowns.

  
“Nope.”

  
They chatter about the new school year and activities until they pull into the school’s parking lot. He checks the time to see that it is only 8:20. Him and Pepper sit there for a few seconds in silence, trying to mentally prepare themselves for the day ahead. Tony finally sighs and turns off the car. The second they step out of the car, Pepper’s friends from cheerleading call her over.

  
“You’ll wait for me after school?” She asks him, with a small smile.

  
“Of course.” He jokes, like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

  
She nods and skips off to the other girls. He walks towards the building ignoring the various people calling out to him from various places around the school yard. After making rounds and talking to his friends, he gets to his locker and begins to unload his books. As soon as he shuts his locker, a familiar face appears in front of him.   
“Hey, dude!” Clint Barton chirps, way to cheery for the occasion.

  
Tony tries to match his enthusiasm. “Hey!” 

  
“How was your summer? Have fun in Hawaii?” Clint jokes, walking next to him to their class. 

  
“You know it! See my tan?” Tony holds out his arm for Clint to see.

  
The other boy squints and mimics being blinded. “How is it that you spend all summer on the beach and still look pale?”

  
“I have no idea. What did you do?” 

  
“Drove around America with my brother.” Tony let out an impressed whistle. “I know. It was a long trip and I came so close to killing him. Would’ve so much rather been on the beach like you.”

  
“Are you playing football again?”

  
“Absolutely. Hoping to get noticed by college scouts.” 

  
Tony raised his eyebrows. “Thinking about college?”

  
Clint has never talked about college seriously before. He jokes that, except for the babes and alcohol, there was nothing about college that appeals to him. Tony had assumed he’d end up being an actor or something because he certainly had the looks for it with his shaggy hair and blinding smile. Either that or become a burnout. That’s what happened to a lot of kids that had been around him while he grew up – they relied on the connections too much and ended up being a stoner living off family money.

  
“Not me, my parents. They don’t want me to live at home forever. Ideally, I get in on my skills so I can get a degree in something random and either play pro or maybe work for your dad or something.” Tony mentally groaned at the idea of Clint and his father working together. “We have a game this weekend, are you planning on coming?”

  
“For sure!” He didn’t have to fake enthusiasm about this, as Hayes High football games were legendary.

  
“I forgot; Pepper is going to be cheerleading.” Clint rolls his eyes and makes a kissy face at him, causing Tony to give him a small shove. Their conversation was cut off by the warning bell before Tony could retort.

  
“Yeah. I’ve got to get to class, I’m in Fury’s homeroom and you know how he is about tardies.”

  
“That’s rough, dude, so I’ll see you later.” Clint gives him a small wave before turning around and running off. 

  
Unfortunately, the bell rang as soon as he steps through the door.

  
“Hey guys.” Tony waves to his class.

  
“Hey!” Thor Odinson, another friend of Tony’s waves back.

  
Tony takes the empty seat next to him, purposely ignoring the angry look from his teacher.

  
“Mr. Stark, you are late. This is not a good way to start off the year.” Mr. Fury scolds.

  
“Sorry, I was in no hurry to get here.” Tony shrugs and crosses his arms, causing laughter to ripple through the class. 

  
Nick Fury doesn’t entertain him, and instead moves on. “As I was saying…”

  
His day goes much of the same. They already start to take notes in his advanced chemistry class, much to everyone’s dismay. He barely gets to see any of his friends, due to their less challenging schedules. At the end of the day, he finds himself on the bleachers working on his homework while Pepper has her practice. She catches his eye a couple times and gives him a small smile. 

  
She comes up to him after practice with a huge smile on her face.

  
“Wow look at you go.” He compliments as they walk back to his car. 

  
“Thanks. I’ve been trying to get that flip down forever now.” She explains as they climb into the car.

  
“Well it looked great. Ready to go?” 

  
“Yep.” 

  
“Is your mom home?” She asks and Tony has to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. He does not want to be back on the topic of his parents again.  
“Nah, she has meetings until late.”

  
“And your dad?”

  
At this point, he found it reasonable to roll his eyes at her. “Who knows.” 

  
“Well, my mom got back from her trip today if you want to stop by for dinner.”

  
“Oh, no. I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.” He immediately brushes her off, opting instead to turn on the radio.

  
“Alright. Well, just let me know.” She tells him before softly singing along to “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John.

  
When they pull into his driveway, Pepper makes him promise to call her later before heading to her house. Tony shoots his mom a quick text before heading inside. He is shocked to see Howard Stark, still in his tan work suit and sunglasses, sitting on the sofa when he enters the house. 

  
“Anthony. You’re home later than expected.” He comments.

  
Tony has to resist the urge to nervously mess with his shirt. “I gave Pepper Potts a ride home from cheerleading practice.”

  
His father raises his eyebrows. “The girl from next door?”

  
Tony has to resist the urge to outwardly sigh because he has known Pepper since they were toddlers and yet his father has never cared to learn anything about her. “Yes, sir.”

  
“Hm. You should strengthen connections with the Potts.’ With your friend’s mother being a fashion designer, that could come in handy for your future.”

  
Despite knowing he should keep calm; Tony felt his blood boil. “I already told you, I don’t want to work in the movie industry.” 

  
Howard lowers his head to peer at his son over his sunglasses. “I’m done having this conversation with you. You have a brilliant future all laid out for you, why risk it?”

  
“It was my first day back at school today, you can’t wait even a few days before you start harping on me again?”

  
“You are running out of time! You need to apply to certain colleges, do internships, make connections-”

  
He cuts him off, “I’m going upstairs to work on my homework.” 

  
He sighs and starts to go to his room before his father speaks, “I have a dinner meeting. You should make yourself something to eat.” Before Tony can respond, Howard disappears into his office.

  
He kicks his bed the second he gets to his room in frustration. Not knowing what else to do, he decides to call his friend. Pepper picks up on the second ring.

  
“Hi.” He starts.

  
“Hi. Was your dad home?” She asks him anxiously.

  
“Yes.” 

  
“Did he bring up Stark Industries again?”

  
He could tell she wanted more information, but he couldn’t bring himself to open up about it yet. “Yes.”

  
“Do you want to hang out?”

  
“… no. It’s fine. I’ll just work on my homework.”

  
“All right. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”

  
“Yeah, sure.” He gets ready to hang up, but she continues to push.

  
“I mean it. I want to help you.”

  
“Okay. I promise I’ll talk to you if I need it.”

  
“Good. Bye.”

  
“Bye.”

  
He flops onto his bed, sighing. The ceiling stars from when he was a kid glow faintly around the edges as he begins to do his homework, focusing on his AP calculus, rather than his angry father below him .

  
That Friday, the school is buzzing with excitement. Because the football team and cheerleading squad had been practicing in the summer as well, they are prepared for the season early. This means scrimmages and games starting right at the beginning of school. Not that Tony was complaining. He loved the football games and he wasn’t the one playing, so none of that mattered to him.

  
Fury can barely control his homeroom class enough to go over the announcements because no one could stop talking. Thor was currently going over the cheerleading roster to try and find himself a girlfriend before the game. His phone buzzes in his pocket every three seconds as Clint asks him a multitude of questions about whether he was coming to the game, what time was he getting there, asking him if he wanted to hang out with the team afterwards, and more along those lines. Pepper, who is already one of the most energetic and cheerful people Tony knows, was practically shaking when she got in the car this morning.

  
After school, the hype reaches its peak. The stands thunder as everyone from their high school, the opposing high school, and various people from the area clamber on to get the best seats. His ears are practically bleeding with how loud everyone around him is screaming when the kickoff happens, but he still has the biggest grin on his face.   
At half time, Pepper and the rest of her squad run onto the field to do their routine. Pepper nails her move that she was worried about the other day and the crowd all cheers for her. She shoots him finger guns as they jog back to the sidelines.

  
The Hayes High Falcons win the game. Of course, they do. They’re incredible.

  
Tony hangs out by the school after, waiting for his friends. Pepper left with her cheerleading friends already, but he chooses to wait for Clint. 

  
“Hey, man! Good game!” Tony calls out as his friend jogs up to him from the locker room.

  
“Thanks! Did you see that catch? I was all like” – he mimics jumping and catching the ball – “and the one of the defensive lineman was like” – he growls and mimes a charging bull – “you know?”

  
Tony laughs, before giving the other boy a high five. “Yeah, those college scouts are gonna be all over you this year.”

  
“Thanks, dude.” Clint starts to head over to his car further over in the parking lot. “A few of us are gonna hang out. You coming?”

  
“Yeah, sure.”

  
Tony follows Clint to his car as they chat about the game and their plans for tonight. When they get to Clint’s car, Thor is already there waiting for them, leaning against Clint’s car. Clint gestures them over to his trunk and pops it, where his duffle bag with football stuff is.

  
“Can you keep a secret?” Clint asks them, as he grabs it.

  
Tony and Thor exchange skeptical looks. “Yeah?”

  
“Look what I swiped!” He pulls a small bag of weed from one of the inside pockets.

  
Oliver’s eyes widen and Tony’s heart starts pounding in his chest. “Where’d you get that from?” 

  
“Barney had it in his bag when he visited from college. Figured we could have a little fun.”

  
“Nice!” Thor cheers, high fiving the other boy.

  
“Are you guys both down?” Clint asks him, opening the bag.

  
“Free weed? Yeah!” 

  
“Tony?”

  
He looks nervously at the bag in Clint’s hands. “We should probably do it outside of the school parking lot.”

  
“Seriously, Tony? What are you, our mother?” Thor rolls his eyes before turning to Clint.

  
Tony weighs his options. He can do it now, let it be a one-time thing, or have all of his friends taunt him about it for the rest of the year. However, it is technically considered a drug, even if it is pretty common for people at his school to some it. But he doesn’t want this to go on his record and risk him getting into college. Though, one good aspect of being rich is how he can get out of pretty much anything with the right check. Not that he has tested that theory. He feels confident the consequences wouldn’t be too bad even if he is caught, so he decides to roll with it. “Let’s do it.”

  
Unfortunately for them, about two minutes later, a police officer stumbles across them.

  
“Hey! What are you boys doing?” Officer Prescott, a friend of Tony’s dad, asked them, heading over.

  
“Shit! It’s a cop!” Thor swears, making them seem even more suspicious.

  
“Hello, sir.” Tony nods at him, hiding the bag behind him.

  
“Ah, Tony Stark. I was just talking to your father a couple days ago.” He peers around them and picks up the stash, much to the boys’ dismay. “What do you boys have here?”

  
“Uh… nothing?” Clint tries, making Tony sigh in exasperation.

  
“You are aware that marijuana, especially underage, is a criminal offence, right?”

  
“It’s mine, sir.” Tony cuts in, stepping forward. “Neither of them did anything.”

  
“Alright. Since it is a minor incidence, I will let you off. You will need to pay the fine, however, and this will go through your parents because you are a minor.”

  
Tony tenses, already predicting what his dad will have to say about this. “I understand, sir.”

  
“I’ll be confiscating this and giving him a call.”

  
Officer Prescott continues on to his car, leaving the three boys standing there in shock.

  
“Dude, what was that for?” Clint stares at him with surprise.

  
Tony shrugs. “He knows my dad; you think he was gonna arrest me?”

  
“Man, it must be so great to be rich like that.” Clint frowns.

  
“Shut up. Now I better go before my dad murders me.”

  
“Oh yeah, you’re toast.” The other two boys laugh and get in the car, leaving Tony standing in the parking lot about to throw up with unease.

  
As much as he wanted to take his time getting home, he knew that the more he put it off, the angrier his father would be with him. He walked into his house and saw his parents already sitting there waiting for him, so he decided to go ahead and sit across from them. In contrast to their usual attire of business suits and neat hair do’s, they are both already in their pajamas. His mother’s hair is loose and tangled around her shoulders and his father isn’t wearing his glasses, which shocks Tony because he hardly ever sees them like this. He taps his feet nervously and waits for his parents to address the elephant in the room.

  
“What the hell were you thinking?” His father finally snaps at him.

  
“I wasn’t, sir.”

  
Howard stands up and begins to pace in front of him, steadily growing angrier. “Do you realize how bad this makes me look? If anyone finds out about this, our whole family will be shamed.”

  
“I understand, sir.”

  
He pauses for a moment before finally deciding, “I’m taking away your spending privileges.”

  
That threw Tony off of his rhythm. “What?”

  
“No more extra money. You want someone to fund your drug habits, go somewhere else, but don’t associate it with me.”

  
“It was a one-time thing!” He argues standing up to face his father.

  
“How do I know that?” He crosses his arms and stares Tony directly in the eyes. “If you want money, you better get a job. Maybe it will help build some character. I can’t believe you.”

  
Howard storms off to his office, leaving Tony and his mother alone in the living room. 

  
“Mom?” Tony tries, but she shakes her head weakly at him. 

  
“I’m sorry, but he’s right. This was a really poor decision.”

  
“Where am I supposed to find a job?”

“Try asking your aunt, she might need someone to come work at her diner.” She gives him a small smile before she follows her husband into his office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my playlist!! I put stars next to the ones that I think go with the story the best.
> 
> *The Suburbs- Arcade Fire  
Out of my League- Fitz and the Tantrums  
Play That Funky Music- Wild Cherry  
Mr. Blue Sky- Electric Light Orchestra  
*Fluorescent Adolescent- Arctic Monkeys  
Hotel California- Eagles  
Come Together- The Beatles  
*Ways to Go- Grouplove  
Fly Like An Eagle- Steve Miller Band  
San Francisco- 5 Seconds of Summer  
Flashed Junk Mind- Milky Chance  
Fire Alarm- Castlecomer  
High- Young Rising Sons  
Cold Cold Man- Saint Motel  



	2. Chapter 2

Tony dreads having to face his friends. He doesn’t know how he can possibly hide what happened, especially from Pepper, seeing as she both lives next door and is his best friend. He decides to rip the band-aid off when they get in the car and just tell her what happened the couple days before.

The second they get in the car, he begins to ramble at her. “I don’t have money anymore. A cop caught my smoking with Thor and Clint and now my dad’s mad because I shamed the family and then he said he wouldn’t fund my drug habit, whatever that means, so he told me to get a job even though I feel like that’s even more embarrassing for him but obviously I didn’t say that because he probably would have smacked me but anyway now I need money for literally everything but no one else can know.”

She is silent for a few seconds before finally sighing and telling him, “Tony Stark, you are an idiot.”

“I know.”

“What did you think would happen?” She asks him, growing frustrated.

“We wouldn’t get caught?” He tries weakly, and he can tell how close she is to smacking him.

“So now what?”

“Don’t tell anyone, please.”

She looks at him as if he had just suggested she join the circus. “Of course not!”

“I don’t have any money to go out to lunch or get gas, so I have to get a job.”

Her eyebrows raise. “You’re getting a job?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Hopefully, my Aunt Peggy will let me work at her diner.”

“That’s good!” She smiles at him, and it makes him feel just a bit better. At least one person believes in him.

They pull into their regular coffee house and order. “Two cold brews with milk.”

“That’ll be four dollars.”

“I got it.” Pepper beats him to the punch, leaning across him to hand the woman working the drive-thru window a couple of waded up bills.

“Pepper-” Tony tries, but she quickly cuts him off.

“No, Tony. For once, let me pay. You’ve been doing this for me every day since you learned to drive. I have money too, so please, let me help.”

“Fine.” He slumps into his seat.

“Thank you, have a nice day!” The lady at the window says, prompting them to leave.

As they continue their drive, he intentionally avoids looking her in the eyes. Despite this, she stares directly at him, as if challenging him to finally say something to her.

“I don’t need your charity.” He finally says, frowning.

“It isn’t charity. It’s a favor.” She insists.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“If that will make you feel better.” She is so nonchalant about the whole thing it frustrates him.

“Yeah.” He agrees, firmly. A second later he adds, “Thank you.”

“Your welcome.” She tells him back in the same aggressive tone, though there is a small smile on her face.

When they get to school, Tony feels like a two-ton weight has been dropped on him. He is not mentally prepared to handle school today. Between the stress of finding a job, his dad, and having to hide it all from his friends, he would have been perfectly content to wrap himself up in a blanket at home and never set foot outside. And it’s only the second week. Unfortunately, he needs to be at school. If he flunks out of high school, he can’t get into college, which is his number one priority.

He grins at all the people he passes, choosing to repress his mild panic caused by having to face the day. He, hopefully not outwardly, winces when he sees Clint hanging out by his locker waiting for him. Has he mentioned he does not feel good enough to keep up his façade?

“Hey Tony! How did it go with your dad?” Clint calls out to him, when he sees the other boy approaching.

Tony gestures at him to quiet down before elaborating, “He yelled, told me he was disappointed, the usual.”

He debates on whether to elaborate and tell him what really happened, but then Clint asks him, “Are you still taking us all to lunch today?”

He forces a smile, “Yeah, of course!”

“Okay good, because I don’t know what I would do without our trips to get sandwiches. Especially because I don’t have to pay!”

“Well, it’s not like they’re free!” Tony tells him, more aggressively than he means to.

Clint rolls his eyes. “Come on. It’s not like a three-dollar sandwich puts a dent in your massive bank account.”

Tony opens his wallet and sees that he still has two twenties in there, which is enough for both lunch and gas. He never would have thought this would be a problem.

Immediately after school, he runs over to his aunt’s diner. Peggy Carter is the nicest person ever. Her short hair is always in a perfect bun and her clothes are ironed, so she always looks put together, but she has a closet consisting of mostly soft sweaters despite the weather and she gives the best hugs, so it’s okay.

“Hi, Anthony! What would you like?” She calls out to him with a bright smile the second he walks in.

“A job?” He jokes, approaching the cash register.

Her smile falls ever so slightly. “What?”

“I got in trouble and now I need money. Are you hiring?”

He gives her a pleading look, so she sighs. “Yeah, of course! What hours would you like? I don’t have many workers, so you can pretty much pick when you want to work.”

“How late are you open?”

“Around two in the morning.”

“Can I work the night shift? Like, ten to two Monday through Saturday?”

“You can, but are you sure you want to? Thirty hours a week is a lot, especially for that late.”

“Yep, I’m sure. When can I start?” He claps his hands together and wrings them together anxiously.

“When are you free?”

“Tomorrow?”

She rolls her eyes and gives him a light laugh. “Oh, all right! Can you come a few hours earlier so I can be there to train you?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

The next day, he feels even worse than before, if that was even possible. He hasn’t even started his job yet, so he didn’t know how he was going to manage with that stacked on top.

“Hey, do you want to hang out after school?” Tony jumps as Clint starts talking to him, having almost fallen asleep at their lunch table from staying up late getting ahead on his homework, due to him having substantially less time to do it the rest of the week.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta get home.”

“Really? Why?”

“Got lots of homework and if my grades fall, I’m toast. I’m already on thin ice after the other night.”

“I get it. Have fun.” Clint jokes before turning to start a conversation with Thor.

After school, he drags himself to the diner and plasters on an energetic grin for his aunt as he clocks in.

“Hi! Are you ready to start? You look tired already, and you haven’t even started. Are you sure you don’t want different hours?”

He brushes off her concern with a cheerful, “Yep!”

He heads over to the counter and doesn’t have to wait long before his first customer of the day comes in.

“Hi welcome to the Sunflower Diner, what can I get you?” He greets with a sparkling fake smile.

“A latte.”

“That will be two dollars and fifty cents.”

“Thank you.”

He accepts the money and deposits it in the register before spinning around to make the drink. He freezes for a moment because he doesn’t know how to make a latte, but luckily his aunt is there to help him with the steps. He is done with it in about two minutes, which may have irritated the man, but it was good timing for the teenager.

He works for another hour before the bell rings and he sees a bunch of girls he recognizes from school come in. Luckily, none of them have noticed him in his yellow apron, so he ducks into the back offices where his aunt is.

“You’re doing great!” She tells him cheerfully, but he barely processes the compliment. 

“Do I get a break?” He rushes out.

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m taking it.” He doesn’t respond to her questioning look and instead sits in the hallway and starts his homework.

He feels someone appear next to him, but he doesn’t look up until they loudly clear their throat. When turns to acknowledge them, he is exasperated to see a familiar face.

“What are you doing back here?” Pepper frowns at him.

“Hiding.”

“From who? The team?” She asks, glancing back where the cheerleading team is sitting.

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“You think I want everybody to know that I have to get a job and don’t have any money? Have you heard Clint and Thor recently?” He asks her, thinking back to their lunch trip yesterday and the many comments they have made in the years.

“Yeah, and they kind of suck.”

“Hey! Those are my friends!” He glares at her as menacingly as he can from his place on the ground.

“I know, but you shouldn’t have to hide this from them.”

“Please don’t say anything.”

“I won’t, of course. Just think on what I said, okay?”

“Okay.” He sighs, before turning back to his calculus.

He returns home at exactly two thirty in the morning. He collapses on the couch almost immediately. Due to an unfortunate twist of fate, he hears the garage open, and a minute later, his father appears.

“You’re home pretty late.” Tony observes.

“So are you. It is almost three in the morning.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where were you?” His father questions.

“Working.”

“Working?” The older man’s eyes shoot up.

“Yes, sir. In case you forgot, I need money.”

“Don’t get smart with me.” He snorts when his eyes fall on Tony’s yellow apron. “Where do you work?”

“The Sunflower Diner.”

“Did I hear you right? You work at a place named after a flower?”

“It’s Aunt Peggy’s restaurant so I get high pay and I’m able to pick my own hours. It’s a delightful place to work, thank you very much.”

He stands up, getting ready to leave when his father says, “Have you given any more thought to working for the company?”

The younger boy crosses his arms in defiance. “Have you given any more thought to letting me live my own life?”

“Anthony!” Howard places his fingers on the bridge of his nose in an attempt to prevent what appeared to be a coming headache. “What could be any better than taking over my company?”

“Creating things? Helping people?” He mentally swore, as he hasn’t quite told anyone what his future career plans were and his father was definitely not someone he wanted to tell.

“You want to be an engineer? Hah.”

“What’s so funny about that?”

“You have to have a good work ethic and great intellect for that.”

“Oh, so I can be a rich slacker and be a perfect fit for your company?” He challenges, trying to resist the urge to punch Howard in the face.

“Don’t put words in my mouth.”

“I see how it is. I’ll be upstairs. As you can see, it’s late, and I have school tomorrow.”

His work the next night could not have been duller. The novelty of having his first job wore off quickly, so he is left wandering around an empty diner in the middle of the night, mindlessly wiping down tables and cleaning glasses, while Peggy finishes her paperwork in the back. This is her last day working at the same time as him because he now knows how to do everything, so his boredom will only get worse. He supposes it is better than nothing, though. For now, he just has to act like he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.

“So, are you going to be good here?” Peggy asks him, pulling on her coat.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like anybody will show up anyway.” He shrugs, looking around at the now empty diner.

She gives him a small smile before leaving him alone. He looks around at all the empty booths and thinks that he will never get used to this abandoned feel. He usually sees this place so full of life with people in every booth talking a mile a minute. Now it’s like a ghost town.

He gets to work wiping down the booths, cleaning the dishes, and sweeping the floor. When that finishes, he does his homework. After that, he puts on the radio and hums along to the songs as he about dies of boredom.

At about one o’clock, he is almost falling asleep bent over the counter, but is awoken by the chime signaling the door.

“Uh… hi. Are you still open?” A blond boy about his age asks, scuffing his feet nervously.

Tony forgets to speak for a moment, before stuttering, “Yeah, we close at two.”

“Got it.”

The boy comes and takes a seat at the barstool in front of him, so Tony asks, “Can I get you anything?”

“Just a black coffee.”

“That’ll be a dollar and eight cents.”

“Thanks.”

The boy pulls out a crumpled dollar bill and a hand full of cash from his pocket and then proceeds to dump it on to the counter in front of him. Tony counts it out painstakingly, before making the coffee. After the day full of cappuccinos, lattes, and frappuccinos, he was relieved to have a simple order.

“What brings you here so late?” He asks, trying to make small talk.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“You seem familiar, do I know you from somewhere?” He presses.

“I don’t know.”

Tony wants to pull his hair out; he is so frustrated. He doesn’t understand why it is so hard for this kid to hold a conversation with him. The boy seems to ignore his presence and pulls out a book instead. When he catches a glimpse of the title, he can’t help but continue talking.

“Do you happen to go to school at Hayes High?”

“Yeah. I’m a senior there.”

“Oh! Me too! I thought I recognized the book you’re reading. Walden is the required reading for this quarter, right?”

“Yep.”

“I haven’t started yet. I’m Tony, by the way.”

This catches the boys attention. He looks up at Tony and his eyes widen in recognition. Tony wishes he hadn’t said anything.

“Tony Stark?”

“Yeah! Have you heard of me?” He jokes, internally cringing. He was hoping he could at least be friendly with the boy in front of him, but he can’t keep talking to a bunch of suck-ups who want to be friends with him for money.

“Pretty much everyone has.”

“Yeah, having a famous dad will do that to you.”

The boy pauses, deep in thought. He doesn’t seem excited, like Tony had thought. Instead, he seems intrigued by him, judging by the furrowed brow and lack of fawning.

“I’m Steve. What are you doing here this late?”

“I told the owner I’d close up tonight. She’s going to a wedding early tomorrow morning, so I didn’t want her to be too tired.”

“You know her well?”

“She’s my aunt.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what has you working here this late at all? It’s a Thursday, we have school tomorrow.”

Tony pauses. He doesn’t know if he can trust Steve yet. After all, he has barely met him. Although, Steve hadn’t really recognized him in the first place and doesn’t really seem to care much about who he is. He decides to take a risk and explain his situation.

“I work the night shift… I need to make a little money. I got caught smoking weed and my dad cut me off. I don’t exactly want any of my friends to know that though.”

“Makes sense.” His nonchalance fills Tony with relief and he lets a small smile work its way onto his face.

“Do you want anything else? The coffee cake here is pretty good and it’ll be bad by tomorrow so you can have it for free.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

He walks over to the prominently displayed cake case and plates the last slice. As he slides it to Steve, the boy says, “So… the diner closes at two?”

It makes Tony smile that he no longer is the only one initiating the conversation. “Yeah, so it’s a long night.”

“Why can’t you close up early?” Steve questions, mid bite of his snack.

“In case anyone else decides to stop by.”

“Who would go to a diner at one in the morning?”

Tony gives him a pointed look. “You.”

“...right.”

“How’s the book?”

“Well I haven’t gotten much reading done, so not sure.”

Tony falters and stutters out, “Oh! Right. Sorry.”

Steve sighs, before putting his book away. “It’s pretty interesting so far, he is reflecting on living in natural surroundings. He writes it over two years, two months, and two days.”

“Huh. Maybe I should start it soon.”

“Yeah.” He checks his watch, stands, and brushes the crumbs off of his pants. Tony frowns a little, so Steve clarifies, “I should go. My mom’s a nurse and gets home from work around now and I don’t want her to notice I’m gone.”

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow?” Tony calls out hopefully.

“Yeah. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”


	3. Chapter 3

Tony wanders into the cafeteria the next day surrounded by his friends. He can’t help but smile when he sees Steve sitting at a table by himself towards the middle of the room.

“Hey!” He called out to him. Steve looks up and sees him, before smiling and giving him a small wave.

“Who is that?” Clint asks, standing next to him.

“His name is Steve. I met him when I was at my aunt’s diner the other day.”

“Huh, that’s weird.”

Tony tilts his head in confusion. “What’s weird?”

“Nothing.”

“Clint, come on.”

“It’s just weird to see you, Tony Stark, actually want to talk to him.”

Tony can’t help but feel hurt by that, even though he wasn’t the one Clint made a rude comment about, but he decides to let it go and follow Clint to their usual table. Everyone else immediately starts roping him into the conversation and he finds himself cracking jokes and forgetting about the conversation from only moments ago.

That night, however, he sees Steve again. He was wandering around the diner helping the few people that showed up at this time, when the familiar blond boy entered the store. 

“Hi.” Steve tells him.

“Hi.” Tony tells him, smiling. “You’re back!” 

“Yep, still can’t get to sleep.” He shrugs.

“Really?” Tony asks, vaguely concerned.

“Insomnia.”

“Got it.” He nods in understanding.

Steve looks at Tony laying across the counter, practically asleep. He hesitantly asks, “Can I get some coffee?”

“Oh! Yeah, right.” He jumps up and heads to get the coffee grounds.

He starts to make the drink and is pleasantly surprised when Steve begins to talk to him. “So… what’s up?”

“Nothing. Aced a calculus test today.” He shrugs as if it was no big deal, even though he practically jumped with excitement earlier that day as it was passed back to him.

“Cool.”

They chatted for another hour or so, before Steve had to leave. After that, Tony closed up the store and headed home, excited to sleep after a long day.

Steve returns the next night as well, and many nights after that. It had been almost a week at this point, and the two boys slipped into a comfortable, yet still a bit awkward, routine. They’d talk about school, books, movies, pretty much anything that they thought of. Tony found himself looking forward to seeing Steve every night.

On Tuesday, Steve comes in around the same time as usual. The familiar ding of the bell over the door catches Tony’s attention and he looks up to see the blond boy coming in the door.

“Hey!” Tony greets him, already placing Steve’s usual order onto the counter in front of him. The other boy grins.

“I started another book.” Steve tells him, immediately launching them into a casual conversation.

“What is it?”

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.”

He is pleased to have recognized the title and smiles a bit to himself. “Oh, I’ve heard of that! Isn’t there a movie?”

Steve gives him an incredulous look. “Do you prefer movies over books?” 

“It depends.”

His mouth drops open in shock. “How could it depend?”

“Why would I waste my time reading a book when I could just get the story by watching the movie?”

“This conversation hurts me.”

“I’m not sorry.”

“What’s next, you’re going to tell me you put pineapple on your pizza?”

“Yes!”

“We can’t be friends.”

“Ouch.”

They share a small smile before Tony is pulled away to ring up a middle-aged man, the only other person in the diner. A few minutes later, Steve stands up as well.

“Okay, it’s two am. Time for me to leave. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye!”

The next day, when Tony sees Steve sitting in the cafeteria by himself, he doesn’t know what to do. On one hand, they had fun last night, and Tony wants to talk to him again. Alternatively, he doesn’t want to scare him off with his extroversion. Steve looks perfectly content, doing what appeared to be doodling in a sketch book. He ultimately decides to casually go up and talk to him.

“Hi.” He tells him, sitting in a seat near, but not directly next to him.

“Are you… sitting here?” He seems confused and Tony feels a pang of hurt in his chest but presses it down.

“Yeah, why? Do you want me to move?” He asks, already beginning to slide away.

“Well, you have a massive table over there filled with your friends. Why would you come sit next to me, someone you have only spoken a couple of times?”

“Well, for one, you seem pretty cool. Also, yeah, I’ve only spoken to you a couple of times, but how am I supposed to get to know you better if neither of us takes any initiative?”

“Tony! You coming?” He turns around to see Clint standing up and their regular table waving to him.

“Hold on!” He waves him off, before redirecting his attention back to Steve.

“As I was saying-”

He was cut off by Clint standing next to him asking, “What are you doing, dude?”

Tony had to repress an eyeroll. “Sitting here for a sec?”

“Why aren’t you over there?”

“Can I not be here for like two seconds?”

“It’s fine, I don’t-” Steve cuts in, but is interrupted by Clint putting a hand on his shoulder and steering him towards the table of all of their other friends.

“Seriously, let’s go. Do you know how bad it looks if we are over here just chilling by ourselves with some random dude.”

Tony doesn’t know what to do. He looks at Steve sitting there and reading his book and back to his other friends who are waiting for him impatiently.

“Fine. Bye, Steve.”

“Bye.” He thinks he sees a small frown, but his expression morphs into one of indifference so fast, he is not even sure if it was anything else to begin with.

“Plus, that guy’s such a loser. Who draws during lunch?” Tony is too tired to do anything but laugh along with him.

Tony sits at the diner that night just working on his homework for hours. Steve doesn’t stop by.

He slides into the seat next to Steve at lunch the next day, saying “You didn’t stop by last night.” 

“Yeah. I had stuff to do.”

“Oh… okay.” He can’t help but feel a smidge disappointed. 

“Besides, what would I have to do there other than talk to you?” That hurts him as much as a smack to the face.

He stands up to leave stuttering, “I guess nothing, but I just thought-”

“Well I just thought if you were serious about actually wanting to talk to me, you and your friends wouldn’t treat me like shit.” Steve tells him bitterly, not looking up from the book he is reading.

He frowns. “What? When did that happen?”

“You don’t remember the time when you moved for the sole purpose of preserving your image?”

“I-”

“How about when Clint Barton made fun of me and you laughed?”

Tony does, in fact, remember that. And as much as he wants to get mad and defensive, he knows Steve is right. “You’re right.”

Steve’s anger fades and is replaced with confusion as if he genuinely expected a fight. “What?”

“You’re right. Those were both really shitty things to do. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Really?” He seems doubtful.

“Yes. Stop by the diner again tonight.”

Tony holds his breath hopefully, until Steve finally says “Okay.”

Steve comes in later that day, true to his word. Tony already had something made for him, hoping he would come, and he holds it out the second Steve walked in the door.

“Here you go.” He says nervously.

“What is this?”

“An apology cake.”

“It looks bad.” He frowns at the misshapen lava cake.

Tony’s chest pangs and he wills himself not to frown. Instead, he jokes, “Do I look like a master chef to you?”

“Okay, sorry.” He takes a bite and his eyebrows raise. “This isn’t bad.”

“Thank you.” Tony takes a small bow.

“Why do you want to be friends with me so badly?”

“What?” Tony cocks his head.

“Why are you putting in all this effort to be friends with me?”

Tony chuckles nervously and doesn’t know what to say. He can’t very well tell him the truth or else he would come off way to strong, so instead he opts for vague. “Sorry, we aren’t close enough for an explanation. Maybe stop by again tomorrow.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets.” His mouth quirks up into a grin. “But I’ll cave.”

“Really? Me just relentlessly pestering you made you more inclined to forgive me?”

“You presented me with this shockingly mediocre cake, so how could I say no.”

“Hey!” He crosses his arms and pouts like a petulant child. 

“What’s your favorite color?”

“What?”

“I’m trying to be nice and get to know you by asking you personal questions. For example, what is your favorite color?”

“Grey.”

“Really?”

“Yep. It is calm and smooth and simple.”

“Those are the three words I would use to least describe you, so that shocks me.”

“Yes, because I’m sure as an avid reader you couldn’t come up with better words than that. What’s your favorite color?”

“Dark blue.”

“Now that seems fitting. Flavor? I love anything chocolate.”

“I like vanilla.”

“That’s because your boring.”

Steve scrunches up his nose. “Don’t you have some burgers to flip or something? I didn’t come here to be criticized for my preferences.” 

Tony ignores him. “Favorite movie?”

“The Godfather.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Let me guess yours – Starwars.”

“That happens to be true, thank you very much.”

“Of course, it is.” 

Tony loves Starwars. It’s only his favorite movie of all time and they happen to show it frequently at the movies. He looks down and scuffs his toe nervously as he says,

“Speaking of which, Starwars is showing at the drive-in movie by school Saturday night. We should go.”

“Alright.” Steve shrugs.

“Cool. I have a car; do you want me to pick you up or something?”

“No, that’s fine. I have a car too, but I live close to there so I can walk.”

“Okay. It’s at seven.”

“You know this already?” Steve gives him an amused smile.

“I was planning on going with Pepper, but she didn’t really want to go anyway so she’ll be glad to be let off the hook.”

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely.”


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Tony found himself looking forward to seeing Steve. He passes him in the hallway once and they smiled at each other and Tony feels giddy at the idea of getting to sit next to him at lunch. He doesn’t know why though because yeah, he wants a new friend, but to get this excited? That has to be a little weird.

He practically sprints to the cafeteria when the lunch bell rings.

“Hi.” He tells him.

“You’re sitting with me.”

“Yep.”

Steve raises his eyebrows. “Are you gonna move to sit with the rest of your popular friends again?” 

“Nope, this time I’m committing.”

“Hey! Tony! Are you coming?” Clint asks him, coming to stand by him.

He took a deep breath. “Nope.”

“Seriously? I feel like we just did this.”

“We did, but I’m staying here this time.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs and moves on, leaving Tony with a smile on his face.

On the way home from school, Tony finally tells Pepper about his change in plans for that weekend.

“You’re cancelling?” 

“You were the one who told me to stop letting Clint use me!” He defends.

“This doesn’t relate to Clint at all.”

“I’m making new friends, so I don’t have to spend most of my time talking to Clint or any of our other friends that you don’t like. If I go to this movie with Steve, then that’s less time I spend elsewhere.”

“Your logic is flimsy.” She pouts, but he can see the small smile on her face that lets him know she isn’t really mad.

“Sorry.”

She sighs. “Go have fun.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

He blows her a kiss. “You’re my favorite human being ever.”

“Don’t forget it.”

He gets to the movie about thirty minutes early. He can’t help it, he’s excited. He puts his car in the best place and waits for Steve to get there.

“Hi.” He says, seeing the blond boy approaching.

“Hi.”

“Are you excited?” His leg jitters from nerves, but he doesn’t think Steve can see it and he definitely won’t be telling him. 

“A little, yeah. I’ve never seen Starwars.”

“What? You’ve never seen Starwars before?”

“Yeah, and I haven’t seen any of the previous ones either. Is that going to matter?”

“Previous ones?”

“Yeah, this is part four isn’t it?”

“Oh, the first one is part four.”

“That makes no sense.”

“I know. I’m thinking of telling my dad to bring it up to George Lucas next time they see each other.” Steve gives him a wide-eyed look and Tony laughs. “I’m kidding.”

“Oh. That’s funny.” He chuckles a little before moving to sit on the trunk of the car next to Tony. “Oh, we got a good spot.”

They talked for a little bit longer until the movie started. Tony probably watched Steve more than he watched the actual movie because he’s seen it so many times and the other boy’s facial expressions were amusing. His eyebrows would shoot up at the shocking parts and when he laughed his nose would scrunch up.

“So? What did you think?” He asked when the movie was over.

Steve crossed his arms and faked nonchalance saying, “It lacked depth and complexity.”

“Come on.”

“I thought it was pretty good, I can see why you like it.” He said with a small smile, avoiding his eyes.

“Yes! I converted him to a sci-fi lover!” Tony threw his arms up and yelled, catching the attention of everyone around them.

“Hey, I wouldn’t go that far.”

They hop off the trunk and prepare to leave. “Are you walking home?” 

“Yeah.”

“I had fun tonight.” Tony tells him, avoiding his eyes.

“Me too.”

Tony looks up at him and into his eyes and it’s at that point that he realizes what all of this is. This isn’t him being weird and wanting to be friends with someone random. He likes him. Like, as more than friends. And he knows he shouldn’t but in the heat of the moment he just can’t help himself because Steve just looks so pretty with the moonlight reflecting off his blond hair and the smile on his face from their banter that he just throws all caution to the wind and leans in and kisses him right on the mouth.

“Tony, I-” Steve starts, shocked, but Tony cuts him off.

“Bye!” He hops into his car and pulls out, ignoring Steve standing there gaping like a fish.

As soon as he gets home, he immediately rushes up to his room. He picks up the phone to call Pepper, but momentarily hesitates. Does he honestly want to admit this to her?

Though, he has known her forever and if he can’t trust Pepper, then he can’t trust anybody. He decides to dial her phone number on impulse. She picks up on the third ring.

“Pepper, best friend emergency.”

“I’ll be right over.” She says without missing a beat.

Approximately a minute later, she is climbing in through the window in his room.

“That was quick.” 

“What is it?” She asks, getting right to the point.

“Sit.” She sits on the bed across from him. He taps his foot nervously as she stares at him. “So, you’ll love me no matter what, right?”

“You’re scaring me.” 

“Sorry! I’m nervous!” He protests.

“Why?”

He looks into her eyes and almost throws up all over her. “You know what, forget it. It’s not that bad.”

“Tony Stark.” She stares him down, before putting a comforting and encouraging hand on his shoulder.

He takes a deep breath. “I like Steve. As like… more than friends.”

She cocks her head, confused. “But he’s a boy.”

“Yes.” He tells her simply.

“And you’re a boy.”

He chuckles nervously. “As far as I know.”

“So, you’re… gay?”

“I guess?” He stutters, avoiding eye contact.

“Damn.” She sighs. “Does he like you back?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Does he know you like him?”

He frowns. “Yes. I kind of kissed him after our movie.”

“Holy shit.” She says.

“I know.”

“That sucks because he’s really cute.” She pouts.  
“Yeah, I know. That’s kind of what got us into this mess in the first place.” They both laugh. 

“How do I face him after this?”

She grimaces. “Sorry, Tony. I really don’t know.”

She gives him a hug before climbing back out the window, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts. He thinks about how he is supposed to talk to Steve or even see him without wanting to both throw up out of nerves and kiss him again. He figures he can probably talk to him at lunch or at work.  
That Monday, he doesn’t see Steve. He isn’t at lunch, or by his locker, or in the library. He picks at his food dejectedly at lunch as the rest of his friends chatter on next to him oblivious. Pepper shoots him pitiful looks.

At work that night, Steve doesn’t come back either. Tony isn’t surprised. After the day he’s had, he’s honestly a little glad. He’s too tired to sort out all of his feelings. Despite the fact that he’s used to staying up late to work on papers or projects, it’s nothing like his frequent late nights here at the diner. He has fallen asleep more times than he can count in the last month. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to process his emotions or complete a coherent sentence if Steve were to show up.

The next night, however, Steve does visit him.

When the bell above the door rang, Tony’s heart stops. He is half tempted to not look up, but his curiosity gets the better of him and his dark brown eyes meet Steve’s icy blue ones.

“Hi.” Steve says, not moving from the doorway.

“Hi.”

They stand in tense silence for a good thirty seconds before Steve addresses the elephant in the room. “Listen, about the other night-”

Tony cuts him off to quickly explain himself, “You don’t have to explain it to me, I totally understand. I was way out of line and we can totally forget it ever happened.”

“Okay, we could, but…” He trails off and looks everywhere but his eyes.

Tony tries to not get too hopeful. “There’s a but?”

“We could also do it again.”

Tony’s eyebrows raise. “You want to do it again?”

“I mean, yeah. If you want.”

“Well, yeah!” His mind flashes to Clint’s irrational judgement of Steve and his dad’s almost approving look when he talks about Pepper. “But what will people think?”

“Do you care what people think?” Tony doesn’t meet his eyes and Steve’s face falls. “Why?”

“My father cares a lot about public image.”

He rolls his eyes bitterly. “Of course.”

“I don’t know what to do.” He says quietly.

Steve walks towards Tony and sits at the bar stool. “We can figure it out as we go.”

“You still want something to happen between us? Even though I’m being kind of a jerk?” Tony asks him hesitantly.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” He nods.

“Okay.”

“I’m supposed to invite you to the football game this Friday. Pepper wants to meet you.”

“That’s not terrifying at all. Should I be nervous?” He smiles good naturedly and Tony’s face softens.

“Oh definitely. She scares me and I’ve known her since we were toddlers.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next day at school, things were weird. Steve and Tony eat together at lunch, which is weird, but not new. They aren’t overly affectionate for obvious reasons, although neither of them are fans of public displays of affectionate anyway. Steve goes to the diner every night still. It is similar to when they were friends, just with kissing and actual feelings. It’s weird for Tony. But good.

That Friday, Tony is nervous. He knows Pepper and Steve will like each other, but still. He can tell Steve is nervous by the way he fidgets with the cuff of his jean jacket as they wait for Pepper by the bleachers. When they see her jog towards them, Steve pales considerably.

“Hello.” She tells them with a smile.

“Um… hi?” Steve tells her.

She looks at Tony. “He’s got a nice ass.”

“Pepper!” Both of their faces turn bright red.

“What? It’s true!” She defends.

Steve chuckles awkwardly. “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome.” She narrows her eyes and stares Tony down. “So, what exactly is going on between you two?”

Tony glares at her. “Stop.”

“It’s an honest question!”

“Are we dating?” Tony asks Steve.

“Do you want to be dating?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, we are.” Steve tells Pepper.

“Okay.”

“Are you good with that?” He asks Tony.

“Yeah, I’m good with that.” He nods, grinning like an idiot.

“I’ve got to go now. Enjoy the game you two.” She gives them a genuine smile, before jogging to the sidelines where the other cheerleaders are waiting.

Tony opens his mouth to begin to talk to Steve but is cut off by another friend of his.

“Hey, Tony.” Clint addresses him, but has his attention focused on Steve instead.

“Hey, Clint.”

“You’ve got weird blonde boy with you.”

Tony shoves him, but his face is serious. “Stop being an ass.”

Clint looks at Tony intently for a moment before sighing and plastering on a grin. “Hi, I’m Clint.”

“I’m Steve.”

“Nice to meet you.” Clint and Steve both look at Tony.

“See? Was that so hard?” Tony asks, shoving Clint again for good measure.

“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes, but there is a small smile on his face.

They are saved from their awkward silence by the football coach calling, “Barton! Locker room, now!”

“Duty calls.”

“He’s a character.” Steve says as soon as Clint is out of earshot.

“No kidding.”

The football game ends up being really interesting. They are playing against a really good team from their region and it is a close game. Tony isn’t shocked. At this point in the season, they are one of the best in the area, if not the state. For sure if they win this game. It was close until the fourth quarter when Hayes High got ahead by twenty-eight points. Because of that, both boys got a little bored. As fun as the football games are, neither of them are sports fans and most people go for the social aspect.

Now that it is clear that their school will win, Tony asks, “Want to go get milkshakes?”

“Sure.”

They leave the bustling crowd behind and walk to the restaurant across the street. It is surprisingly busy for being almost ten o’clock, so they get in line to order to go.

Looking at the extensive menu, Tony grins. “I love milkshakes.”

The people in front of them pay, so the lady working the register calls to them, “What can I get for you two?”

“Can I get a chocolate cookie shake?” Tony asks.

“I’ll have a vanilla, please.” Steve chooses.

“Got it.”

Tony frowns at Steve, and he rolls his eyes. “What?”

“Vanilla?” Tony asks, as if this flavor has personally offended him.

“We had this conversation already.”

“That doesn’t make it any less boring.”

“It’s not boring, it’s good! It’s a classic!”

“Classic is another name for boring.”

“Shut up.”

“Here you go.” The lady smiles at them, handing them their drinks.

Tony pays, much to Steve’s dismay, telling the woman, “Thank you.”

They leave and wander back down towards the school where their cars are parked. It is a nice night because of the fact that it’s the end of September, so they are a comfortable in just their jeans and t-shirts.

Tony kicks a rock, not meeting Steve’s eyes when he says, “So.”

“So.”

He decides to break the ice “What did you think of my friends?”

“Pepper’s great.”

A large smile splits across his face. “You think so?”

“Yeah, she’s pretty funny. I can see why you like her.” Steve rolls his eyes before saying, “Clint on the other hand…”

Tony’s smile falls. “What’s wrong with him?”

Steve stumbles over his sentence, trying to find the right words. “Nothing! It’s just… hard to see how you can be friends with him.”

Tony rubs his face tiredly. “Pepper says the same thing. Neither of you get it.”

“Get what?”

“Why we’re friends.”

“Then explain it to me?” Steve asks hopefully, giving Tony his full attention.

“Okay.” He rubs his arm nervously and stares into his milkshake as he begins to talk. “We’ve been friends since ninth grade. We originally became friends because he was well known and popular and I thought it would make my dad happy. It did, because pretty soon everyone at this school knew who I was. Well, they found out I was a Stark. It got me into the good graces with people at school and I got lots of benefits. Clint was thrilled because I paid for things and got him more attention. We always have fun though. We go to parties and sneak into amusement parks and he is really funny, so we actually are really good friends. Pepper only focuses on the ‘he uses me for money’ part though, and not the actual ‘we hang out all the time’ aspect.”

“You want to be popular that badly?” Steve asks, sounding surprised.

“It’s not the popularity, it’s the… approval, I guess.”

“So, if that’s the case, why did you start talking to me in the first place?” Steve asks, not bitterly, but as if he is genuinely curious.

“Well, you didn’t seem interested in talking to me at all, as weird as that sounds. I’m surrounded by people all the time who talk to me for selfish reasons, and I saw that day as an opportunity to get to know someone real. God, that was cheesy. I’m sorry. Also, I’m aware of how privileged I sound. ‘Poor little rich boy has too many friends.’” He scowls into his drink.

Steve walks in front of Tony, so he has to look at him in the eyes. “I don’t think that at all.”

Tony quickly cuts him off before it can get any deeper. “Can we not talk about this anymore?”

“Yeah…yeah.” They continue to walk back to the school.

“What’s your family like?” He asks, changing the subject.

Steve’s look morphs from concerned to one of fondness. “My mom is the best. She has to work a lot, so I hardly see her, but she is great. Her name is Sophia Rogers and she works as a nurse at the hospital. She makes the best spaghetti ever, is one of those people that decorates for Christmas right after Halloween, and likes the Rolling Stones.”

“I love the Rolling Stones!” He interrupts excitedly.

Steve’s eyes flick to the worn t-shirt Tony is wearing. “I can tell.”

Tony smiles wistfully. “She sounds amazing.”

“What about your family?”

Tony has to resist the urge to flee on the spot. Steve, having only known him for a short period of time, is unaware of what a loaded question that is. The thing is, Tony is unsure how to answer that question. Because he loves his parents, obviously. They are his parents. It’s just that it is a little hard to be a Stark sometimes, despite how ignorant that sounds.

“My mom is nice too. She is a lawyer, so she works long hours too, but sometimes she gets up early and makes me breakfast. She does her best but works a hard job as I’m sure you know.” He hesitates and chooses his words carefully. “My dad wants what’s best for me, which I appreciate. I just wish that he could also consider what I want.”

“Makes sense.”

They find themselves standing in front of Steve’s beat-up olive-green Ford from the sixties in the school parking lot. “We’re here.”

Steve gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting in the driver’s side. “Bye. I’ll see you Monday.”

Tony’s face turns bright red, making Steve laugh. “Bye.”

He walks to his car practically in a daze. When he gets there, Pepper is waiting for him.

He swears loudly when he sees her. “I forgot I was supposed to give you a ride home!”

She laughs. “It’s been about two minutes. Our coach kept us late to go over some details for our competition tomorrow. Don’t worry.”

“I’m still sorry though.”

They climb in the car and he hasn’t even buckled before Pepper gets the biggest grin on her face and asks him, “So, how was your date.”

“It wasn’t a date.”

She rolls her eyes good naturedly at him. “He’s your boyfriend now, you don’t have to avoid it.”

He sighs, “Fine. It went great.”

“Nice! What did you do?”

“We left towards the end of the football game, we got milkshakes and just talked.”

“That’s cute.”

He turns red and keeps his eyes on the road. “Shut up.”

“What did you talk to him about?”

“Random stuff.”

“Like?”

“Friends and family.”

Peppers mouth falls open. “Those are your two touchiest subjects!”

He shoots her a glare. “I’m not some heartless monster who’s incapable of love, okay?”

“I didn’t mean it like that! I just… think he’s good for you, that’s all.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that, I’m just a little tense. But yeah, it was great.”

That next Monday, he drops Pepper off in front of her house like usual before pulling into his driveway. He enters his house, yells out his arrival, grabs a snack, and heads upstairs to work on a history project. He didn’t really expect to see his family tonight due to their jobs and his workload, so he is surprised to hear his mom call, “Anthony, come down for dinner!”

He comes down and sees both his parents sitting at their dining room table with a full meal in front of them. “What’s going on? Am I missing someone’s birthday?”

“No, I just thought it would be nice for us to have a family dinner because we hardly ever do.” His mother tells him as she scoops him some food for his plate.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So, how’s school?” She asks him, trying to start a conversation.

“Pretty good. I got an A on my chemistry test today.”

“That’s great!” She tells him, enthusiastically.

He smiles at the praise. “Thank you.”

“How’s work, Howard?”

“It’s going well. We just signed a contract to turn this book series into a movie trilogy, which will be good for business.”

“I’m glad.”

Tony looks to his mom and asks her, “How’s your case going?”

“It should be settled in the next few days, which I’m glad about. This last month has been tough. Maybe after that, we could catch a movie, Anthony?”

“Sounds great, mom.” He grins at her.

“Great.” She smiles back.

He finishes up his dinner and puts his plate in the dishwasher. “Thank you for dinner, mom. It was really good.”

She beams. “I’m glad. It just came from a box though, so no big deal.”

“Still. Thank you.” He tells her sincerely.

He gives his dad a nod, before heading back upstairs to finish his homework. Dinner was awkward, but he appreciated that they were at least trying. It was times like this that he remembered he likes his family. He and his dad can be civil, and his mom tries her best to support them and work, which is unfair to her.

He gets back to work with a smile on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve and Tony had been going solid for about a month. Which isn’t impressive at all, but still. Tony has little experience with all of this stuff, so each day he isn’t dumped he can count as a win. Pepper still can’t get over the fact that Tony has a boyfriend and finds every excuse to talk to him about it. Today, they happened to walk into lunch at the same time, so as Tony starts to head to Steve’s table, his best friend latches onto his arm. He turns to look at her, sees her hopeful expression, and immediately knows what is going to happen.

“Can I sit with you guys at lunch?” She practically begs him.

He rolls her eyes at her. “Can you not be so embarrassing?”

“I’m just so happy for you! You finally are dating someone, which hasn’t happened since-”

“Since Piper Miller in sixth grade, I know. I was there. But still, you don’t have to make this so weird.”

“Fine! I’ll tone it down.”

“We’ve been dating for a month and you keep saying that, so at this point I don’t believe you.” He scowls.

She just sticks her tongue out at him.

Steve greets them, as they approach the table. “Hi Tony. Hi Pepper.”

Tony sits next to Steve and Pepper slides in next to him saying, “Hi Steve. How has your day been?”

“Good, how has yours been?

“Good.”

Clint walks past them and audibly sighs. “Again? And you’ve stolen Pepper too?”

Tony spins around and looks at him straight in the eyes. “If you care so much come join us!”

“Uh… I’m good, thanks.” He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably, before returning to his usual seat.

“Why would you do that?” Steve asks, giving him an incredulous look.

Tony almost laughs out loud at the image of Clint sitting at an empty table in the cafeteria. “There’s no way he would say yes.”

Pepper cuts in, “So, I’m having a party Friday night because end of the cheer season and all that. You two should come.”

“Sure.” Tony shrugs.

“I guess?” Steve responds, though it comes out more like a question.

“Great.” She smiles, taking a sip of her smoothie.

That Friday, Tony arrived at the Potts’ residence early to help Pepper prepare. This isn’t Pepper’s first party and it definitely isn’t the first one Tony has attended. He has been doing this since her Jetson’s themed birthday party when she turned four. They have a whole routine down – Tony lays out cups, snacks, and drinks while Pepper locks the breakable or expensive stuff in her basement.

She is dressed up for this, while Tony is most definitely not. He is wearing black jeans, Vans, and a green Henley shirt. Pepper, on the other hand, is wearing heels, jeans, and a tied crop top with her hair loose and wavy around her shoulders.

“Are we ready?” She asks, flopping next to him on the couch where he waits, drinking a beer.

“Yep.”

“Okay, good. We have an hour before the party starts.”

His eyes widen. “Pepper! You told me to get here at five thirty!”

“Yeah! The party starts at seven, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get ready!”

“Pepper, it’s six!”

“I’m sorry!” She apologizes, sounding not sorry at all.

“You do this every time!”

“And yet you keep coming over when I ask!” She challenges him.

“Okay, shut up.” He sighs and takes another swig of his beer. “Now what do we do?”

“I have to go do my makeup, come upstairs with me.”

“Fine.” He gets up off the couch and follows her up to her room, where he sits on her bed and watches as she finishes getting ready.

“So where are your parents now? Do they know this is happening?”

“Yeah. My mom is in Paris for a show and my dad will be home pretty soon, but he’s leaving again to travel to Berkley and teach a class there on business.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

As if on cue, the door opens to reveal Pepper’s dad, Eric Potts. He looks at the situation before him with his daughter doing her makeup and a teenage boy on her bed, failing to hide the alcohol in his hands. His expression scrunches up and he sighs loudly.

“What’s going on here?” He asks, eyeing Tony warily.

“Nothing?” Pepper tells him, rolling her eyes.

“Pepper, you know how I feel about you and Tony hanging out with the doors closed.”

“What do you think is happening here?” She asks him with raised eyebrows.

“I don’t even want to know.”

“Well, the rest of my friends will be here soon, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in on Monday. Have fun!” He walks over and gives her a kiss on the head.

She waves him off. “Thanks, bye.”

“Bye Mr. Potts!” Tony dramatically waves with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Tony.” He gives the younger boy a curt nod before leaving.

“Sorry about him,” she sighs. “You’d think after fourteen years he’d realize we aren’t dating.”

“My dad does the same thing, don’t worry.”

Pepper makes eye contact with him through the mirror. “Is your dad concerned with you getting a girlfriend?”

“A little, yeah.”

“Are you going to tell him about Steve?”

His eyebrows shoot up and he gives Pepper an incredulous look. “Are you kidding?”

She spins around to look at him. “Are you okay? This must be wearing on you.”

“Well it’s either this or I break up with Steve and actually get a girlfriend.” He stands up and looks at all of the Polaroid photos lining her walls.

“Well he’s a piece of shit, so ignore what he says. Besides, it doesn’t matter what random people think about you.”

“Except that’s kind of the motto of the Stark family: ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, only what people think of you.’”

Pepper stands up and wraps him in a tight hug. “Well I think that you’re my best friend and the most important person in my life. That matters more than your relationship status.”

Tony is taken aback for a moment. He opens his mouth to respond, but before he can come up with something to say, the doorbell rings and Pepper leaves to go answer it. Tony grabs his drink and follows her down the stairs.

It takes about an hour for Steve to finally show up. By this point, he is on his third beer.

“Hey! You came!” He calls out and heads to where Steve is standing by the door.

“Yeah. This looks fun…” He says hesitantly, looking around at all the people around him.

“Yeah, it’s been cool so far. Do you want something to drink?” He asks, heading over to the kitchen.

“Sure, but do you have anything not spiked?” Steve responds, following him.

“We have water and soda.”

“I’ll take a soda, thanks.”

“So, what has happened so far here?”

Tony grins, amused. “Is this your first party?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Only a little.” He laughs and looks around at the chaos. “It’s basically been like this the whole time.”

“Fun.” After a particularly loud scream, Steve winces. “It’s really loud.”

“Do you want to go outside?” Tony offers.

They wander out and take a seat by Pepper’s pool. It is still loud outside, but without the speakers only a couple feet away and the massive amounts of people, it’s significantly better. He looks at Steve, who is wearing his signature jean jacket with a white t-shirt and jeans.

“You look really cute tonight.” He tells him without thinking.

A light blush spreads across Steve’s face. “Thank you.”

He leans in and kisses him. Steve seems a little surprised at first but kisses him back. He pulls away after a few seconds, though, looking mildly alarmed.

“Anyone could see us, aren’t you worried?” Steve asks, looking around worriedly.

“You’re the best things to have happened to me in a while.” Tony blurts out.

“Oh really?” Steve’s eyebrows raise

“Yeah. I mean, there’s Pepper. Other than her though, there isn’t much good in my life. You’re a bright little sunspot.”

“How much beer have you had?”

“Enough to make me not nervous, but I also feel confident in my decision-making abilities.” Tony says, though he isn’t sure how true that is because he definitely is regretting talking. Plus, his head is getting a little swimmy.

“So how much of this do you mean?” Steve asks him.

“Every single word.” And that is true.

“How much of that did you plan to tell me an hour ago?”

“Nothing.” He laughs nervously.

“Alright then, maybe you should have some water.” Steve tells him, standing up.

Before he can think, he finds himself admitting to Steve, “I think I could fall in love with you.”

Tony’s eyes immediately widen, and he starts mumbling apologies, as he pulls away. Steve’s face goes pale and his expression conveys clear apprehension. Tony waits anxiously for what he is about to say. “Tony, I-”

Steve is interrupted by Pepper coming outside and Tony is both frustrated that he doesn’t know what Steve thinks and relived because a part of him doesn’t want to know. “Hey there you are! I was looking for you guys inside. What’s going on?”

“I think Tony’s a little drunk.” Steve stutters.

“Yeah, that’s nothing new.” She rolls her eyes.

“What time is it?”

“Ten thirty.”

Steve is already inching back towards the house. “I should go. I don’t want my mom to get worried.”

“Okay. Bye, Steve!” Pepper chirps.

“Bye.” He scrambles back into the house.

She comes and sits next to Tony, who puts his head in his hands.

“I’m an idiot.”

“I’m sure it isn’t as bad as you thought.” She tells him comfortingly.

“He practically ran away.” He counters. “You know I get too honest when I drink.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I think I could fall in love with him.”

She chokes. “Oh God.”

“Yeah.” He takes the beer from her hands and downs it in less than a minute.

He follows her back into the party and lets the alcohol and loud music drown out the embarrassment of the last hour and how he will never be able to face Steve again. For God’s sake, they’ve only been dating for a month. This has got to be way too soon. But, to be fair, Tony never really knows how to do what’s right. So, he drinks a little more and dances with Pepper and stays up late and barely makes it home without throwing up in the bushes.

The next morning, Tony is only a little hungover. By that, he means he feels terrible. He has a pounding headache and could vomit any second. He stumbles downstairs desperate for a bowl of cereal and he sees his dad sitting at the table in their kitchen drinking coffee.

“On November 15th, I have a business meeting with a client that I would like you to attend.” He tells Tony without turning his head to look at him.

“Why would I do that?”

“You need to start learning aspects of the company.”

Tony wants to fight him on that, but the pounding in his skull convinces him to relent. “Fine.”

“Good.”


	7. Chapter 7

To say that things are weird between Steve and Tony would be an understatement. Steve hasn’t been to the diner in days. While they usually talk frequently, they haven’t spoken since the party. Tony hasn’t even really seen him since then, other than a few glimpses in a crowd of other students. Steve is clearly avoiding him, and Tony can’t blame him.

Eventually, he gets tired of this. He misses his boyfriend. So, when he sees him in the library that afternoon, he can’t help himself. He slides into the seat across from him.

“Um… hi.” Tony tells Steve, starting their first conversation in a couple days.

Steve looks up and his eyes widen when he sees Tony sitting across from him. “Hi.”

He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “So, Friday night was weird.”

“You remember it?” Steve sounded both shocked and exasperated.

“Yeah, I don’t like to drink _that _much.”

Steve stuffs his hands in his pockets and avoids his eyes. “I’m sorry I ran out. I got nervous.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Tony is quick to dismiss that idea. “I said some pretty serious stuff and I scared you off. That’s entirely my fault. If you want to breakup or whatever, I’ll understand.”

“Is that what you want?”

Tony scoffs. “Did you even listen to me the other night?”

He takes a deep breath before saying, “I want you to meet my mom.”

“What?”

“I got home Friday night and told her everything. She wants to have you over for dinner. I just didn't really know how to talk to you about it.”

All the breath leaves his lungs and a grin spreads across his whole face. He can’t believe that, not only are they staying together, but Steve wants him to meet his mom. “That sounds amazing. When?”

“Wednesday?”

“Okay.”

That Wednesday, Tony is extremely nervous and rightfully so. He has dressed up in a collared shirt with a new pair of jeans. He knows that he doesn’t need to be so freaked out, but he has an intense desire to be liked by Sarah Rodgers because he knows that this could make or break their relationship.

Right now, they are standing outside of Steve’s apartment, waiting for Tony to be ready to go in. Tony taps his foot on the ground anxiously and fidgets with the hem of his shirt.

“How do I look?” Tony asks him, pulling at his collar.

Steve laughs at him good naturedly. “You didn’t need to dress up! This is a casual thing.”

“I know, but I really want her to like me.” Tony looks down at what he’s wearing. “Plus, I’m not really that dressed up.”

“You aren’t wearing a t shirt, which is pretty dressed up for you.” Tony grins halfheartedly and Steve’s joke, too preoccupied to appreciate the insult.

“I’m wearing my vans though.”

“Good. If you wore anything else, I’d be convinced you were a clone.” That makes Tony feel a little better, so he takes a deep breath.

“Is everything good? I think I’m ready.”

“Hold on, your collar is a little crooked.” Tony hurriedly reaches up to fix it, but Steve quickly stops him. “No, you just made it worse. Here let me help you.”

He walks over and stands in front of Tony, reaching up to fix his collar. They are so close that Tony can feel the heat from Steve’s breath on his face. He feels a blush rise to his cheeks as Steve puts his hands on his shirt. He folds over the back and smooths it out.

“Thanks.” He breaths.

They part and Steve turns and unlocks the door. When they walk in, they are met by a woman in her early fifties, with blonde hair that is peppered with grey. She immediately gives them the biggest smile when she sees them. She pulls Steve into a hug and he returns it, before she turns and gives Tony a hug as well. He is floored for a moment before hugging her back.

‘’Hello, you must be Tony. It’s so lovely to meet you.” She tells him, ushering him into the kitchen.

“It’s so good to meet you too, Ms. Rodgers.” He greets her.

“Please, call me Sarah.”

“Okay.” He takes off his brown bomber jacket and folds it gently over one of the chairs in their dining room. “I’ve heard lots of good things about you.”

“I could say the same to you.” She tells him with a knowing smile. “I made a lasagna; I hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah, that sounds amazing.” He tells her, surprised. He was not expecting an actual sit-down meal, even if that would be typical.

She puts out plates and they all sit down at the table. Sarah in the middle, with Steve and Tony sitting across from each other. They begin to eat, and Tony is pleasantly surprised at how good this tastes.

“What brand is this?” He asks her, between bites.

"Pardon me?” She asks him, tilting her head in confusion.

“This lasagna, what brand is it?”

“Oh, it’s homemade.”

His eyes widen and he points at the dish. “Wait, you made this? From scratch?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

“Quite the opposite! This is incredible!” He gushes.

“Oh, thank you! You’re too kind.” She blushes at the compliment.

"How long did this take to make?”

“A little over an hour.”

“Wow.”

“Are you used to having store bought meals?” She asks.

He looks away nervously and stutters out, “Uh… yeah.”

“Well, you are welcome here any time for a nice homecooked meal.”

“Thank you. That means a lot."

They all talk for a while longer as they eat. Tony learns many embarrassing stories about Steve, much to Steve’s dismay. Sarah listens intently as Tony talks about school, which made him both embarrassed and happy. Eventually, they finish their meals and bring their plates into the small kitchen.

“Do you need help with dishes?” Tony asks shyly.

“No, I’ve got it.”

“I insist.” He tells her, heading towards where she is standing by the sink. “What would you like me to do?”

“Here, I’ll wash, you dry, and Steve can put them away.”

They work in a rhythm, cleaning all the dishes. Despite the fact that Tony hates chores and has never really had to do them, he finds himself enjoying his time with the Rodgers’.

They work in silence until Sarah asks, “What do your parents do?”

Tony tenses ever so slightly but manages to carry on the conversation normally. “My dad works in the movie industry and my mom is a lawyer.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! What movie industry?”

He debates how much to reveal and settles on saying, “Um… Stark Industries.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.” She lets out a low whistle. “What does he do?”

Knowing Tony’s aversion to talking about his fame, Steve tries to step in and say, “Mom, maybe we should-”

Tony takes a deep breath and decides ultimately that he wants to come clean and be liked by her instead of trying to keep a big secret. “He runs it?”

“Oh. So, you’re…” Realization dawns on her face and she almost drops the plate she is holding.

“Yeah.” He says, only slightly above a whisper, looking away.

“You poor dear.” She says sympathetically.

“It’s fine.” She comes and wraps him in a tight hug. “Oh.”

They break away and she checks her watch. “Well, I have to leave for my shift. Please, come back soon.”

“Oh, I will. Thank you for having me, Ms. Rodgers.” He corrects himself at her joking frown. “Sarah.”

She leaves, leaving Tony and Steve standing in the kitchen.

“So, what did you think of her?” He asks hopefully.

“She’s amazing. I can see a lot of similarities between you two.” He teases.

“Thank you.”

Steve walks into their living room and sits on the floral printed couch. Tony follows along behind him and takes a seat on the couch as well.

He begins to ramble nervously, “You don’t want to meet my parents. I know you want to, and I know I should, but I can’t. What we have is amazing and I don’t want it to be touched. I hope you understand.”

“I do.” Tony meets his eyes and he seems genuine. “And you introduced me to Pepper, who is basically your family, so I think we’re even.”

“I don’t deserve you.” He smiles.

“I disagree.” Steve stares at him so intently Tony thinks he can see straight into his soul. “I think you finally deserve something good.”

“I love you.” Tony tells him, honestly and sincerely for the first time, and that made him nervous.

Tony’s breath catches in his throat when Steve looks into his eyes and tells him “I love you, too.”

When he returns home, things are not as great as at the Rodgers.’ He isn’t surprised about that though, as their house is warm and comforting and his house is empty and cold. It doesn’t help that Howard Stark doesn’t look pleased to see him.

“Anthony.” His father greets him, standing in the living room with his arms crossed.

“Father.” He greets in return, confused.

“Where have you been?”

He panicked for a split second before casually replying, “Dinner with Pepper’s family?”

“Do you know what today is?”

“Wednesday?”

“November 15th.”

It hit him like a smack in the face. “I was supposed to go to your meeting.”

“Yes, you were.”

He felt like he was about to throw up. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“I’m so furious with you I don’t even know what to do.”

He quickly began stuttering out apologies. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll go to as many meetings as you want.”

“I have another on Sunday.” Howard proposes.

“I’ll be sure to clear my schedule.”

His father doesn’t say anything, so he takes that as his cue to head upstairs. He lays down on his bed and just lets out a long sigh. He is so tired of this war with his dad. He is tired of not being able to do anything he wants and having to stick to his dad’s life plan for him. He is tired of being up nineteen hours a day to afford things. He wishes he could just fall asleep and wake up in a year or so when everything is easier. But he has to get up and go to work.

The next day, Steve is too perky for Tony. Which isn’t saying much, considering Tony is so physically and mentally exhausted that even a small smile is too perky for him.

"Hey!” Steve tells him cheerfully as Tony approaches his lunch table.

“Hi.” Tony grumbles.

He knows he shouldn’t blame Steve for his situation, and he doesn’t, but he is more than a little bitter about the prospect of having to spend time working with his dad for the company. Especially because that company is at the root of many of his personal and familial issues. He just doesn’t have the energy to pretend like everything is good though, so he brushes off Steve.

Steve catches onto his foul mood pretty quick. “Are you doing okay? You seem a bit weird.”

“No, I’m good.” He plasters on a fake smile which seems to fool Steve, at least momentarily.

“Do you want to go to the movies this weekend? Maybe Sunday?”

“Sorry, I can’t this Sunday.”

“Oh, why not?”

He rolls his eyes. “I have to go to a meeting with my dad.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.” Steve tells him jokingly, knowing Tony’s hatred for all things Stark Industries and meetings.

“Yeah, sure.” He stands up and grabs his lunch. “I’m gonna go, I have to talk to Fury about a chem grade.”

“Okay, bye! Have a good day!”

His face softens and he gives Steve a small smile. “Thanks. You too.”

Unfortunately for Tony, the rest of the days passed that week very quickly and before he knew it, it was Sunday and he is getting ready to leave with his father. He has to squeeze himself into an old pair of black slacks, a white button-down shirt with a blazer, and actually style his hair.

“Anthony! Are you ready to go!” His father calls up to him.

"Hold on! I'm coming!"

When he goes downstairs, the first thing his father tells him is “Your collar is crooked.”

He reaches up and tries to fix his collar, but only ends up making it worse, so he has to run to the bathroom, exasperating his father, so he can see.

“Where are we going?” He asks as they walk out to the car.

“To dinner in the city.”

The car ride is silent, not that Tony is surprised. Howard is driving their new Cadillac, mostly used to impress potential clients, while Tony stares out the window at the passing buildings. His dad had told him nothing about the purpose of this dinner. He doesn’t know who he is meeting or why, but he’s hoping it’s nothing too bad. He can honestly think of nothing worse than a business dinner, though.

They drop their car off with the valet and head into the elegant restaurant. Tony is immediately overwhelmed by the luxury displayed. With the pricey menu items and the overdressed patrons, Tony is not confused as to why his father picks this place for meetings.

“Hello, Mr. Stark!” A burly man in a navy-blue suit saunters up to them with a skinny man with a thin chevron mustache skitters along behind him.

Both of these men were a couple inches taller than his father, meaning Tony was at least six inches shorter than them. He can’t help but feel intimidated and subconsciously takes a step behind his father. Howard notices this, however, and claps a hand on his shoulder and guides him towards the businessmen in front of him.

“Obadiah! William! It’s good to see you both.” Howard says with a charming smile, shaking their hands.

“I could say the same to you.” The bigger man, Obadiah, tells him.

“Who is this young lad?” William asks, giving Tony a toothy grin.

“This is my son, Anthony. I brought him so he could train to take over the company right out of college. Isn’t that right, son?”

“Yes, sir.” He shakes their hands and puts on his best winning smile. “It is very nice to meet you both.”

“Is that okay?” Howard asks, eyeing his colleagues from over the top of his sunglasses.

“Of course. Shall we sit down?”

They are guided over to a table in the center of the room. They all sit down, and his father wastes no time before roping them into a conversation about the development of a new studio. Tony tries to listen and pitch into the conversation, but in all honesty, he has no idea what is happening, and he doesn’t understand how his father expects him to. They use terms that he has never heard of and discuss capacity and finances and other things he lacks the background knowledge for. Instead, he stares down at his food and lets his mind wander.

He is brought back to reality when he feels a pinch on his arm and sees his father glaring at him. “Pay attention.”

He nods curtly and does his best to contribute. He uses a skill he learned during group discussions at school – just agree with what the person before you has said, throw in a fancy term, and tie it all back to the purpose of the meeting. Each time he does it, everyone at the table seems even more impressed and he can’t help but grin.

After another hour, they all are finally ready to leave. Tony is drained, so he can’t say he’s sad to see them go.

“Goodbye. It was nice to meet you both.” He shakes hands with the men and gives them another one of his practiced smiles.

“He’s doing great, Howard. He’ll be perfect for the company.” William tells his father, enthusiastically shaking his hand.

“That’s what I’m telling him!” Howard jokes.

They all disperse and head to their respective cars. Tony climbs into the passenger’s side and buckles up, while Howard does the same. They pull out and drive in silence for a few minutes. Tony waits expectantly for Howard to address how the meeting went.

“You’ll do better next time.” Howard tells him and he can tell by the tone of his father’s voice that it isn’t a suggestion.

“Yes, sir.”

“You hardly seemed engaged.”

As much as it hurts him, Tony decides not to pick a fight. “I’ll do better next time, sir.”

“Have you decided to be a business major yet?”

“No.”

“Anthony.” His father warns.

“Give it time, maybe I’ll change my mind spending more time around the company.” He tells him, making it vague enough that he isn’t locked into anything but also appeasing his dad.

“Hmph.”

Tony decides to push even further by asking, “If I’m working with the company, can I have my spending money back?”

“Fine.”

He almost cheers, but he knows that will cause his father to immediately take it back, which would not be appreciated. As much as he will miss his late nights with Steve, he knows he can do that whenever and now he can have free time and a solid sleep schedule. Plus, having money isn’t too bad either.


	8. Chapter 8

The night after the Stark Industries dinner, Tony goes into the diner early so he can talk to his aunt in person and resign from his job.

“Hi, Aunt Peggy!” He tells her happily once he sees her.

“Hello, Tony. You seem to be in a good mood.”

“Yes, which is actually why I’m came to see you. I made it up to my dad, so he’s giving me back my spending money.”

“That’s great! I assume this means you’ll be quitting your job at the diner?” She raises her eyebrows with a knowing smile on her face.

“Unfortunately, yes. I’m sorry, but you were right, and it really is wearing on me.”

“It’s no problem, honey. When will your last day be?”

“As soon as possible?” He tells her cheekily.

“You’re always so eager. Can you work tonight? After that, I’ll let you go.”

“Of course. Try not to miss me too much.” He grins, taking a seat at the barstool across from her. “I’ll still make sure to stop by regularly though, because you make the best milkshakes, and I need those at least once a week.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

He smiles and heads out of her office and into the diner itself. He sighs and decides to head home because he has two hours until his shift. He considered seeing if Pepper wanted to do something, but he honestly just wanted a shower and a nap before starting his last shift.

That night, he is surprised to find himself feeling a strange sense of nostalgia. As excited as he is to not have to be here every night, he is going to miss having his late-night talks with Steve and free food, though he supposes he can do that anyway.

His thoughts are perfectly punctuated by the bell above the door ringing and his favorite customer walking towards him. “Hi.”

“Today’s my last day.” Tony blurts out.

“What?” Steve’s brows furrow in confusion.

“Since I’m going to meetings with my dad, I get my spending money back so I can quit this job.”

“Sounds great.”

“Yeah.” Tony notices how his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “At least I’ll have a better sleep schedule.”

“Great.”

“Hey, just because I don’t have this job doesn’t mean I won’t see you. We still have school and I’m not planning to stop our dates anytime soon.”

“Yeah, I know.” Steve shakes his head before smiling at him as he launches into another long speech about the most recent movie he’s seen.

The next night, he spends his first free night in what feels like years taking Steve on a date. They decide to go roller skating at a rink about thirty minutes away from their school. Steve is surprisingly good at it and can glide with relative ease. Tony, on the other hand, falls over every five minutes. His hands are scraped up and he has bruises all along his legs, but he has a large smile on his face and Steve is laughing at him and that’s all that matters.

At around ten o’clock they decide to leave because it’s late and their cheeks are red from the effort. Tony thinks Steve looks rather cute and tells him such, making his cheeks flame up even more. It is a pretty amazing day.

When he gets home, however, it all comes crashing down as per usual.

“Where have you been?” His father challenges, not even looking up from where he is mixing himself a drink.

“Out.” He shrugs, vaguely.

Howard whips around and narrows his eyes. “Don’t you get smart with me, young man.”

“I don’t understand what the problem is.” Tony throws his arms up in frustration.

“The problem is that you don’t need to be out until odd hours of the night. You need to be professional and not disgrace our family with your teenage shenanigans.”

“I was just hanging out with my friends! I was at Clint’s house and then I drove home.”

“You should’ve been studying or helping me with the company. Spending all your time with your friends is not productive at all.”

Tony is taken aback. His father had never mentioned this before so why now? He guesses now that he is semi-willing to work at the company for the time being, that needs to be his first priority. It isn’t as if that is his long term plan though. For now, if he has to go to meetings, he should at least be able to do what he wants with his free time.

“I don’t want to spend every moment of my free time working! I should have time to see my friends. I’m not even an adult yet!”

“Are you ever going to make me proud?”

Tony falters and takes a step back. Howard doesn’t look the slightest bit remorseful and instead looks at Tony with raised eyebrows as if he is expecting an answer. Tony doesn’t dignify him with a response and instead turns on his heel and heads up the stairs to his room.

The next day, he is barely able to pull himself out of bed to go to school. He considers taking the day off but between the biology project due today and the disappointed look he will inevitably get from his parents, he decides against it. Instead, he gets dressed, makes himself twice the amount of coffee, and drives to school thirty minutes late. Pepper will probably be mad at him for not letting her know she would need a different ride ahead of time, but he can’t bring himself to care.

He goes about his day in a tired daze and barely participates. His teachers give him a questioning glance and some space because they know that if he isn’t constantly talking during class, it must be a bad day. He is both relieved and frustrated because he doesn’t want people seeing him like this.

He doesn’t go to lunch. Instead, he sits in the library with a granola bar and gets ahead on his homework.

He almost audibly sighs when he sees Steve sit across from him.

“Hey, what’s going on.” He asks him, his head tilted in concern.

“Nothing, don’t worry.” Tony waves him off without looking up from his textbook.

“No, seriously, you’ve been weird recently.”

“It’s none of your concern.”

He pauses for a minute, not knowing what to say, before admitting, “I talked to Pepper.”

Tony rolls his eyes and closes his book. “Of course, you did.”

“Your dad is causing you trouble?”

“That could be the title of my biography.” He spats bitterly.

“Please Tony, talk to me.” Steve is practically begging at this point, so Tony’s resolve crumbles.

“He wants me to take over the company. He is pressuring me into that career path so much, Steve, and I don’t know what to do.” The more he talks, the more emotional he feels, and so by the end, he is practically yelling when he says, “What do I do? I don’t want to do that; I don’t want to run his fucking company!”

Steve lays a comforting hand on Tony’s arm, and tells him with an even voice, “Hey, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“Yes, I do! That’s the whole point, what am I supposed to do!” Tony lashes out, throwing his hands up in the air. He immediately regrets it and folds his arms into his chest and says, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to dump all of this on you.”

“There is no need to be sorry. This is what I am here for. You can talk to me about anything.” Steve tells him with a small smile, before walking over to him and wrapping him into a hug.

“I love you.” Tony whispers into his chest.

“I love you, too.”

That is the first time Tony has ever really opened up to anyone except Pepper, but this time it isn’t four in the morning and he isn’t drunk off wine stolen from his parents basement. He has to admit, it feels a little bit better not having to handle everything on his own. He doesn’t know what he will do when Steve is gone, though.

Four days later, he has another deep conversation with Steve. He doesn’t know how or why these keep happening, but he hates feeling so vulnerable. He both misses and despises the times before Steve when almost none of his friends knew his really personality or anything remotely deep about him. Yet here he is, laying on the roof of Steve’s house, looking at the stars and talking about the future, like one of the romance movies his father produces.

“So, we just applied to colleges.” Tony prompts.

“Yes?” Steve turns to look at him.

“I was wondering what you were thinking of doing?”

He thinks for a moment, before replying, “Well, I hate to leave my mom, so I’ve applied to some colleges in California, but also various places across the country. My top choice is NYU, so we’ll see how that goes. I am planning on majoring in classics because I love literature. Maybe art or film studies though, because I love both of those things too.”

“That sounds perfect for you.” He tells him with a genuine grin.

“What about you? What are your college plans?”

His smile falters a bit, “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Of course!” Steve sputters, as if the very thought is ridiculous to him.

Tony looks up at the sky and away from Steve. “I want to be an engineer.”

“Why would I laugh at that?”

“Well, my dad did. He’s less than thrilled.”

Steve sighs quietly from next to him at the admission and Tony is grateful when he chooses not to comment on it. “Where do you think you will go?”

“Hopefully MIT. I’ve been waiting to leave this place forever and now I don’t have to stay here with my dad and his constant disappointment. Plus, it obviously has the best engineering program in the country.”

He can tell from Steve’s tight grip on his hand that he wants to discuss Tony’s casual mentioning of his insecurities. Tony knows that he should stop saying stuff like that when he doesn’t want to talk about it, but sometimes his mouth moves faster than his brain. “I really hope you get in. How long have you been planning this?”

“Since I was in sixth grade.”

“If anyone can do it, it’s you.”

“Thank you.”

The next day after school, Tony goes home with Steve to get a break from his suffocating family drama. They head into his room and begin to work on their respective projects. Tony has tons of homework, so he sits on Steve’s floor to work on reading for his American History class.

After about an hour passes, Tony gets a little bored.

“What are you doing?” Tony looks up from his book to where Steve is sitting across from him.

“Drawing.”

Tony’s face lights up and he immediately directs all his attention to his boyfriend. “Ooh! Draw me!”

“I don’t know… I don’t usually show people my art.”

“I’ll make you a deal – you draw me, and I will show you a weird scar I have and give you the story behind it.”

Steve thinks for a moment before agreeing. “Deal.”

Tony sits in his chair and poses, though he gets distracted halfway through and looks out the large window next to him, causing Steve to screech, “Hold still!”

“Sorry!” He says, laughing and returning to his original position.

“And… done.” Steve says, after a good thirty minutes.

He flips around his sketchbook to show Tony and even though it is a rough sketch, it is so clearly Tony that he is dazzled. “Oh my god. That’s amazing.”

“You think?” He asks sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No, like actually. You are really, really good.”

“Thank you.” He sits there patiently, and Tony is confused for a moment, causing Steve to prompt him, “Okay, time for you to hold up your end of the deal.”

“See this scar here-” He lifts up his sweatshirt sleeve to show a long, jagged white scar along his arm. “When I was six, I was at Pepper’s house. She set up this whole tea party for us and me, being the good friend, I am, played along. But while she was pouring our drinks, I accidentally sat on her stuffed elephant, so she pushed me for being mean, and I hit her bed frame.”

“Oh my god.” Steve manages to get out through his laughter.

“I know. It was a real bonding experience.” Tony says through a massive grin.

“She’s crazy.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

Steve runs his hands along Tony’s scar, smudging ink along his skin from where it had rubbed off onto Steve’s hand while he was drawing.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” He gasps, trying to wipe it off with the sleeve of his hoodie.

“What?” Tony asks him, trying to look over to where Steve is sitting.

“I just got ink all over your arm! It must have been on my hands and smudged off.”

“Don’t worry about it. Does it make me look like an artist, all covered in ink?” He jokes, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, shut up.”

The next day at school, they announce the next school dance. The winter formal is another big staple at Hayes High, along with every other stereotypical high school activity, so the whole school is buzzing with excitement. There have already been five big asks with posters and flowers, and at least a dozen other more subdued date arrangements. While Tony usually likes to see everyone get excited about school things, this is just getting gross.

“So, they just announced the school’s winter formal.” Steve tells him at lunch.

“Yeah?” Tony asks, already knowing where this is going.

“Would you maybe want to go?”

He wants to say yes. He wants to jump up and down and scream with excitement, but the small voice inside of him that warns him of his parents wins, like usual. “I don’t know… I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”

“Or the right idea.” Steve corrects bitterly.

“Yeah.” Tony says, looking down at his lunch.

“But I mean, we haven’t tipped off anybody yet. We don’t even look like a couple. We’ll just be two single dudes who hang out together because they don’t have dates.” Steve pushes with a large grin on his face.

Tony, seeing how excited Steve is and thinking about his own dance expectations, finds himself saying, “Fine! Fine.”

“C’mon, get excited. We will both get to wear suits.”

“Yeah, that’ll be hot.” He winks at him, getting a shove from Steve.

“Shut up.” He scolds, though they both have massive grins on their faces.

Naturally, he tells Pepper everything on the way home from school.

“You guys are going to the dance together? That’s so cute!” She squeals.

“Stop.” He rolls his eyes.

“What, did you seriously expect to tell me this and not have me get excited?”

“Yes.” That’s a lie.

“Well, you’re wrong.”

He turns the conversation away from him by asking, “Do you have a date?”

“Maybe…”

His mouth falls open and he turns to stare at her. “Pepper Potts! Tell me everything right now!”

“Well, I got asked by this guy in my English class. James Rhodes?”

“Yeah, I know him. Football player?”

“One of the running backs, I’m pretty sure.”

He grins at her, before pushing her playfully. “That’s super cool. I’m happy for you.”

All of a sudden, her eyes widen, “I need to go shopping for a dress!”

“Don’t you already have a million dresses?”

“Well, maybe I need a million and one.” She frowns at him.

“Of course, my mistake.” He laughs.

“I’m going with some of the other cheerleaders, would you want to come?”

His mind drifts to the hypothetical scenario that is dress shopping with the cheerleading squad. Him sitting in a chair in some frilly dress shop and having to give his opinion on all of their outfits and pretend like he cares. Based on the number of Pepper’s friends, this is a three-hour ordeal at least. This leads to his clear answer.

“As much as I love hanging out with you, I think I’ll pass.”

“Boo.”

He pulls up in front of her house. “Have fun though! I’ll see you Monday!”

She climbs out of the car and blows him a kiss. “Bye!”

He pulls into his driveway and sees the mailbox slightly open. He decides to open it and see if there’s anything good in there. He knows colleges are sending out acceptance letters soon, but he doesn’t know when MIT sends theirs. His question is answered when he pulls down the lid and sees a thick envelope on top addressed to him. Even though it was just paper, it felt as if it weighed a million pounds.

He drifted over to Pepper’s house and knocked on her door, still in shock. She opened the door and her eyebrows raised when she saw him there. “I just saw you, what could you possibly have to say now?” She tells him, jokingly.

He wordlessly held up the envelope and her jaw dropped. “That’s your acceptance letter.”

“Or rejection letter.” He counters.

Pepper steps out of her house and stands next to him on the porch. They both drop down and sit on the steps.

“I don’t know if I can do this.” He tells her, looking at the envelope in his hands.

“Yes, you can!” She urges him.

He looks up and meets her eyes, suddenly very nervous. “What if I get rejected?”

She places a hand on his arm comfortingly, before telling him, “Then you can pick through the other schools you applied to.”

“But I don’t want to go anywhere else.” He admits, his voice hardly above a whisper.

“Tony. Open the envelope.” She tells him forcefully.

“Okay.”

He rips open the envelope and scans the page, his eyes quickly scanning every word on the page. He can hardly believe what he’s seeing.

“So?” Pepper pushes, after a minute.

“I got accepted.” He breathes out, not believing what he is seeing. He jumps up and shouts, “I got accepted!”

Pepper jumps up next to him and yells, “Yes! You’re going to college!”

“I’m going to college!” He yells with her, whooping and screaming enough to alert the whole neighborhood.

“I’m so proud of you.” She wraps him into a big hug, and he hugs her back just as tight.

“Thank you.”

“Now go call Steve.” She shoos him away with a big grin on her face.

“Right! Steve! I’ll tell Steve.”

He leaves Pepper standing there on her porch and he rushes back to his house. He goes up the stairs two at a time, almost tripping. He scrambles to his room and bursts in and towards the phone. He picked up the phone and dials Steve’s number.

His mom answers. “Hello?”

“Hi! It’s Tony. Is Steve there?” He asks as politely as he can, considering he is trying not to scream with excitement.

“Oh hello! Yes, he is right here, hold on.”

There is some scuffling on their end of the phone and a moment later, Steve speaks into the phone. “Hello?”

He just couldn’t wait anymore. “I got in!” He shouts. “My letter came and they’re letting me in! I get to go to MIT! I’ve been waiting for this almost my entire life and I can’t believe it’s finally happening, and I get to be an engineer and go to college and oh my god it’s happening.”

Steve’s voice on the other end was soft and hopeful. “You got in?”

“I got in.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! We've only got one more chapter after this to go!!! I'm so excited for you guys to hear this chapter, it's probably my favorite and I had so much fun writing it. I just wanted to warn you that there is more blatant homophobia in this chapter, so if that's a trigger for you, please be careful <3 anyway, enjoy!!

At the end of February, he finds himself getting ready for the school dance. While it is a weird time to have a winter dance, he doesn’t mind because of how close it is to his and Steve’s six-month anniversary. Not that he keeps track of something like that, because that would be really sappy.

He takes a shower and brushes his hair for the first time in months, so his brown hair lays flat instead of flying everywhere. He throws on his dress pants, a white button down, and a black suit jacket. He stares intently at his shoes trying to decide between his nice shoes and his vans, before ultimately going with his vans. He doesn’t want his feet to hurt and besides, footwear doesn’t really matter.

He heads downstairs to grab something to eat before heading to pick up Steve. He roots around in his cabinets before pulling out a bowl and some Lucky Charms. When pouring the milk, he splashes some onto his shirt and swears loudly before dabbing at it uselessly. He gives up after a few seconds and decides to start eating, not bothering to go sit down and instead continues to stand at the island.

He hears the front door open and mentally crosses his fingers that it isn’t his dad. For once in his life, luck seems to be on his side because moments later his mother enters the kitchen.

“Where are you headed?” She asks, eyeing his outfit.

“The school dance.” He tells her through a mouth full of cereal.

“You have a dance?” She asks, surprised.

“Yeah, the Winter Formal.”

“I feel like I’ve barely seen you.” She sighs, plopping into the chair.

“Yeah, that’s because you’ve barely been home.” He says, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice.

“I know and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be off at college next year, so you won’t even have to worry about it.” He shrugs and avoids her eyes.

“Oh, Anthony, don’t put it like that.”

He sighs and admits to her, “It really says something that I’ve seen dad more than you. You know how much it takes to be a bigger workaholic than him?”

“Has he still been putting pressure on you about the company?” She asks, concerned.

He raises his eyebrows and tells her harshly, “I’ve had to go to meetings with him, mom.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll talk to him.”

He snorts. “Yeah, a lot of good that will do.”

“I’ll try to be home more.”

“I don’t mean to make you feel bad about being busy, I just wish you could make more time to be at home.” _To be home to see your son _was left unsaid, but they both understand the true meaning of his words, nonetheless.

“I’ll try harder.”

“Okay.” He looks at his watch and tells her, “I have to leave for the dance, but I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Have fun.”

“Thanks, love you.” He gives her a small smile before disappearing out the front door.

He is practically sweating from nerves the entire drive to Steve’s house. He knows reasonably he has nothing to be worried about because he and Steve have been on dozens of dates, but this somehow feels significantly more important. Probably because it is. They are not only on a date, in public, which makes Tony nervous, but something about going to a dance together makes everything feel a little more official. Not that they weren’t official, because it’s been almost six months. He thinks this dance will be really fun.

When Sarah Rogers opens the door, her face lights up when she sees him, and she immediately ushers him inside.

“Hi, Sarah.” He greets, shivering slightly.

“Hello, Tony. You look very nice.”

“Thank you. Is Steve ready to go?”

“Almost!” Steve answers, calling from his room.

“He’s been in there for almost an hour, I don’t know what he has to do.” Sarah tells him with a smile.

“Done!” He calls out, before emerging in a maroon velvet suit jacket with black pants. His hair is gelled to the side and he looks really nice.

Steve immediately tells him. “Wow… you look great.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” Tony teases.

“Sorry, I didn’t have any dress shoes, so I’m wearing my Converse.” He says, embarrassed.

“It’s official. We’re soulmates.” He tells him as he wiggles his foot to show off his vans.

“Let me get a picture!” Sarah calls, running to grab her polaroid from the living room.

“Please, no.” Steve whines as she comes back.

“Okay, don’t move.” They stand together with matching grins, but Tony trips at the last second over his untied shoelace and falls into Steve, and they both start laughing. “You moved!”

“Sorry!”

Steve rushes over to his mom as the photo prints. “Let’s see how it looks!”

“This is super cute.” Sarah tells them, holding up the photo.

“Would you mind sending me a copy?” Tony asks, shyly.

“Of course not.” She smiles at them fondly. “Now you two better run along so you aren’t too late.”

“Okay thanks, mom.”

“Bye, Sarah!” He waves as they leave.

“Have a great time!” She calls out.

“Are you excited?” Tony asks Steve as they climb into his car.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” He chuckles.

It is eight o’clock when they get there, thirty minutes after the dance has officially started, so they are fashionably late. They find a parking spot luckily, but due to the massive amount of people, they have to park all the way in the back. It takes them about five minutes to get from the car to the building.

When they get into the gym, where the dance is being held, they are immediately overwhelmed by the appearance of it. There are white and blue streamers everywhere along with hand cut paper snowflakes and glitter.

“Wow.” Tony says.

“It’s definitely a winter dance.” Steve agrees.

“It doesn’t snow here, so you think they’d have some better decorations. Like palm trees or skyscrapers. Things that can actually be found in southern California.”

“No kidding.” Pepper says, coming up to them. “Hi guys! You look great.”

“Thank you. You’re dress looks amazing.” Steve says, looking at her long dark blue dress.

“Thank you.” She turns and looks at Tony expectantly. “Aren’t you going to tell me how nice my dress looks, Tony?”

“You have shown me this three times since you bought it last week.” He rolls his eyes, but nevertheless tells her, “You look incredible.”

She really did look amazing. Her dress was a royal blue with off the shoulder sleeves. She was wearing black heels that looked way too high to be comfortable. Her red hair was curled in ringlets around her shoulders and she had white flowers tucked into the braids that ran along her head and met in the back. It also didn’t help that she was grinning and looked so excited.

“Thank you.” She does a quick spin for them, showing how it twirls. “Oh, there’s James. I better go.” She gives them a small wave before disappearing into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

“They have snacks.” Tony whispers to his date urgently before making a beeline towards the table in the back.

“Only you would immediately run towards the food.”

Tony immediately starts loading up a plate. “They have frosted cookies, so I’m not even sorry. Have you tried these? They’re the best thing ever.”

Right as he turns around, he bumps into Clint. “Hey, Tony! What’s up?”

“Nothing. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I could say the same for you.”

“Do you have a date?” He asks, already knowing that the answer would be yes.

“Kate, from the cheer squad.” He points to a small girl with medium length black hair in a black and white polka dotted dress talking to a few other girls he recognizes from the cheer team.

“She’s cute.” He says, not knowing what else to say.

“I guess. What about you?”

“I wasn’t going to come originally, so I didn’t find a date.” Tony shrugs, eyeing Steve who is standing a few feet away.

“That’s rough.” He looks over again at Lori, before saying, “Well, I better go.”

“Please use a condom.” Tony jokes and Clint winks at him.

Once Clint is gone, Tony takes that as his cue to head over to Steve. “Man, I love casually listening to slow dance songs.” Tony says sarcastically.

Steve snorts. “No kidding.”

He looks around at everyone at the dance before spotting Pepper and James gazing into each other’s eyes. He wrinkles his nose, jokingly. “They’re so gross.”

“We could go out there.” Steve suggests.

Tony freezes. He wants to say yes so badly, and he hates doing this to Steve. He knows he deserves better. He looks towards Steve regrettably. “I’m sorry; I can’t.”

“I know.” He says simply, continuing to look at the other couples on the floor.

“Plus, whether I’m dancing or watching, I will never appreciate jazz music.” He jokes to lighten the mood and Steve smiles, which he considers a win.

“See I don’t get that. It’s a genre of guys just vibing.” Steve argues.

“Your old person is coming out.” He teases and Steve grins.

They mill around for a while longer, talking to their friends and listening to the music, but eventually everything fizzles out and people start to leave.

“Do you want to go?” Tony asks Steve.

“Sure.”

They grab their jackets and begin the walk back to the car.

Steve suggests, “Where do you want to go? We could go back to my place and do something.”

Tony jams his hands in his pocket and keeps his eyes ahead of him when he says, “Or, if you want, we could go back to my house and listen to some of my new records. I’ve got Queen, Elton John, The Who, Pink Floyd. The Rolling Stones, of course. You know, the good stuff.”

“That sounds great.” Steve gives him a cheesy grin and Tony figures this would be worth the paranoia associated with bringing him to his house.

“Mom! I’m home!” Tony calls out when they walk through the door.

Steve’s mouth drops when he sees it. Tony knows his house is at least four times bigger than Steve’s, with its formal living room, dining room, massive kitchen, and multiple bedrooms. That is one of the reasons he had delayed bringing Steve home in the first place – he didn’t want Steve to feel bad about what he has.

Not only that, but the obvious nerves about introducing Steve to his family. His mom would be fine, probably. He would guess that she would say hi, introduce herself, and leave them alone, which is good. It’s his dad he is worried about. His dad definitely wouldn’t appreciate him bringing someone home, especially someone of Steve’s status, as messed up as that is.

Steve smiles at him and Tony guesses that was Steve’s way of attempting to calm his anxiety about the situation. While it comforts him a little, he definitely can still feel his legs shaking beneath him. He takes a deep breath and decides to just go talk to his family.

Tony walks into the kitchen and leaves Steve near the stairs that head up to his room. He sees his mom sitting at the counter filling out some paperwork, and his dad is nowhere in sight. He lets out a breath of relief and walks over to her.

Maria looks up at him surprised and asks, “Oh, wow, already?”

“Yeah, it was boring. Anyway, I brought back a friend, so we’ll be upstairs.”

“Not a girlfriend, right?” Maria eyes him warily.

“Nope.” He points back to by the steps where Steve gives her a small wave.

“Then alright.” She waves back to the boy. “Can I meet him? I want to make sure you aren’t friends with the wrong crowd.” She jokes.

Steve, hearing this, walks into the room and stands by Tony. “Hello, Ms. Stark. I’m Steve.”

“Hello, Steve. It’s nice to meet you.” She looks at Tony and Steve a bit skeptically, before letting out a small sigh. She turns to Tony and says, “He seems nice enough. Go on.”

Tony smiles at her and tugs Steve out of the room, while Maria turns back to her paperwork.

“She was nice.” Steve tells Tony as they go up the stairs.

“Yeah, it was whatever. She isn’t the most outwardly friendly. Don’t get me wrong, she’s nice, and I love her, but small talk isn’t her thing.”

“I understand. Are your parents strict about girls?” Steve asks Tony as they walk upstairs to his room.

“Nah, they just put on a show like that in front of other people to make it seem like they have good parenting skills. But jokes on them, they don’t need to worry about me having girls in my room.”

Steve laughs and a blush creeps up his face. When they walk into Tony’s room, Steve’s eyes widen. He looks around at the tidy room with multiple posters and a shelf full of books and records. Tony tosses his jacket on the bed and sits down.

“Wow, you have an extensive record collection.” He says in awe as he runs his hands along the sleeves.

“Thanks, I pride myself on it.”

“How about this one?” He heads over to see what Steve is holding out.

“Oh, A Night at the Opera by Queen is one of my favorites.”

Tony puts it on so that Steve can hear it. He starts with the B side, where all his favorites are, and is pleased to see that so far Steve is liking it.

“I really like this!”

“Well, I don’t know if you have a record player, but you can borrow it if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“What’s the best song on here?” Steve asks, looking at the sleeve to the list of songs on the back.

“Well, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is the most popular and well liked, but I’m a sucker for ‘Love of My Life.’ Although I can relate to ‘I’m in Love with my Car’ because I, too, love my car.”

He laughs. “It’s a pretty nice car.”

Steve places the record on carefully and it begins to play. They leave the record on and sit on his bed. Tony tells him, “You do look really nice by the way.”

Steve blushes and leans in and kisses him. At that moment, his door flies open, and Steve and Tony jump apart and whip around to see who it is. There stands Howard Stark.

“What the hell is going on here?” He shouts.

“Nothing!” Tony quickly defends standing up to face his father.

“Really? Because it looked like you were kissing this boy.” Howard’s voice quivers with anger.

“Nope.”

He grabs Tony by his arm. “Anthony, don’t you dare lie to me right now.”

“Fine. I was kissing him. In fact, we’ve been dating for almost six months now.” Tony stares into his face defiantly, ignoring the throbbing of his bicep under his father’s tight grip.

“What?” Howard looks back to where Steve is standing uncomfortably next to the bed. “You should go.”

“Tony, I-” Steve starts sympathetically, but Tony waves him off.

“It’s okay. Do you need a ride?”

Steve shakes his head before disappearing through the door, leaving Tony alone with his father.

“Are you trying to make a fool of me?” He hisses.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You started to date a boy just to undermine me and ruin everything I stand for!” He accuses.

“Are you so image conscious that you think everything I do impacts you? Have you considered that maybe I actually like him?”

“He’s a boy.”

“Yes, he is.”

“I can’t accept this.” Howard lets go of him and Tony stumbles a few steps back, pulling at his shirt.

“What are you going to do about it?”

Howard thinks for a moment before challenging, “You won’t go to MIT.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s either him or being an engineer.”

“How could you make me choose? I love him and this is my entire future!”

“You can’t possibly love him.” He spits, and Tony boils with anger.

“I won’t go to college at all. Then what? That would be really shameful, wouldn’t it.”

“Don’t try to trick me, Tony. I’m not an idiot. All you want is to go to college. Would you honestly give that up?” Howard teases cruelly.

Tony knows he is stuck. His father is fully aware that Tony will go to college no matter what, so he is forced to follow his ultimatum. It isn’t as if Tony can afford college on his own, much less MIT. So, it all boils down to his relationship or his future. How fucked up is that? He stands there, staring Howard in the eyes, trying not to cry, when he finally breaks.

“I’m leaving.” He pushes past his father and into the hallway.

“You can’t just storm out!” He calls after him.

“Watch me!”

He sprints down the stairs, almost running into his mom.

“Anthony, what’s going on?” She asks, worried.

“Talk to dad about it. I’m sure he’ll have plenty to say.”

He pushes past her, grabs his car keys from the table by the door, and into the night. Once he is outside, without his jacket, he thinks of places to go. He shivers already and knows he can’t just stand there all night. His first thought is obviously next door. He runs across their lawn and up to the Hughes’ front porch. He knocks on the door and is surprised when her mom answers it.

“Is Pepper here?” He asks, out of breath.

“No, I’m fairly sure she’s still at the dance. Why?”

“Oh no reason. Can you just tell her I need to talk to her when she’s not busy?”

“Of course.” She smiles kindly and shuts the door.

Tony sighs and slumps on the porch. As he sits there, he thinks of what to do. He should go to Steve’s. He should go and explain what happened to him and hope they can figure something out. He puts that as his last option though, because he isn’t ready to go there and possibly end things. He subconsciously massages his bruised arm as he thinks of other people. He could go to his aunt’s, but he isn’t sure what he would even do there other than sit with his thoughts and he didn’t feel like explaining the situation to her. Plus, his parents would call there, and he doesn’t want to see them. He thinks of Clint but knows that definitely isn’t an option. They aren’t close friends in that aspect, he definitely doesn’t want to explain his situation. Ultimately, he decides to rip of the band-aid and head to Steve’s.

When he gets there, Steve opens the door. When he sees Steve’s concerned look, he bursts into tears right there.

“Tony, what’s going on?” Steve asks him, ushering him inside.

“Steve, what’s-” Sarah walks in, but Steve waves her off. She gives them a small, sad smile, before retreating back to her room.

“He’s going to ruin my life.” Tony tells him when they are both situated on his couch.

“What?”

Tony takes a deep breath and tells Steve, “He said I either have to break up with you or he won’t pay for MIT.”

“Oh my god.” Steve deflates and rests his head in his hands.

“Yeah.” Tony whispers, looking down at his lap. “He’s such an image-conscious, homophobic, douchebag that he can’t even realize how terrible he is to me.”

Steve breaks the silence after a few seconds. “Well, I think it’s pretty clear what has to happen.”

“Really? What?” Tony looks up at him, surprised.

“We have to break up.”

“No. Come on.” A few stray tears escape from his eyes as he stands up and shakes his head. “What? I can’t let him win like this! I love you!”

“Tony. You know I love you too, but this is insane. We’ve been dating for almost six months and you have been planning for this since you were eleven. It’s your dream. And if you don’t, you’ll have to take over Stark Industries.”

Steve takes his hands and gently pulls him back to the couch. His eyes are wet with tears as well. He whispers, “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Me neither.” Steve puts a comforting hand on Tony’s shoulder and begins to rub his back. Tony leans into the touch. “I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. You deserved better.” His voice shakes as he says the words he’s been thinking, even since before they were found out. “God, I’m such a fuck up. I ruin everything.”

“No. Don’t pin this on yourself, this is all your dad’s fault. You were perfect.”

He wishes he could believe him. He wishes he could go back in time and correct all his mistakes. He wouldn’t be ashamed to call Steve his boyfriend. He would gladly hold his hand in public or let him meet his mom. He would’ve danced with him at the formal earlier that night. He wishes he could care less about what people think. Not that any of that matters.

“I hate him.” Tony practically growls.

“What?”

“He’s not my dad anymore, not really. He can’t do this to me. I’ll be out of the house in three months and if he is going to treat me like this, in addition to how he has treated me my entire life, then I hate him.”

“Okay.” Steve pauses, before admitting. “I’m sorry I talked you into going the dance. I made you feel guilty for not wanting to share that we are dating. I thought it was because you were ashamed of me or something and you just didn’t want to ruin your image. I’ve always resented that a little. Now, I’m so, so sorry for feeling like that and guilting you about it. I know that you knew this would happen. So, I’m sorry.”

“I should’ve told you.” Tony argues. “I should’ve come clean about my life before dragging you into this whole mess.”

“I should’ve trusted you.” 

His voice is cracking, and he feels so helpless, curled up on a too-small sofa and wrapped in a handknit blanket with tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. He wants to pull himself together and convince Steve that he’s fine and there’s no reason to worry, but he can’t. All of his built-up resentment towards his family and love for Steve coming pouring out of him and no matter how hard he tries; he can’t calm down. He humiliates himself by hiccupping and almost making himself sick, but he can’t remember the last time he cried and now he doesn’t know how to stop.

So, he sits on Steve’s couch, clinging to him like a scared child, eyes red and puffy. As Steve starts to help Tony up, Tony subconsciously tenses.

“Stay with me? Just a little longer?” He says his voice barely above a whisper.

“Of course.”

When he returns to his house the next morning, he is less than thrilled to see both of his parents in the kitchen talking about what he assumes to be what occurred last night. When he slams the door behind him, they both look up.

“Well?” Howard asks, raising his eyebrows.

“We broke up.” Tony shrugs nonchalantly, trying to hold back his tears.

“Okay.”

Tony spins to look at his mom and challenges her, “Did you have nothing to say to him?”

She looks sympathetic but says, “Anthony, I-”

“Of course not.” He isn’t surprised. His mother always tends to side with her husband, no matter how unreasonable he’s being. He looks at Howard again. “So, you’ll drop this whole Stark Industries thing?”

“Well, I-” He tries and the last of Tony’s willpower snaps.

“No, it’s a yes or no question. You said if I break up with Steve I can go to MIT and be an engineer. I did just that. If you are going to continue to force me into a career that I would despise, then I’m going to go back to my boyfriend. And you know what? I hate you so much right now that I don’t even care if I don’t go to college. It would be better than making you happy. So, drop the Stark Industries thing now.”

His mother agrees, “That sounds reasonable.”

“Well?” Tony asks looking at his father.

Howard closes his eyes in frustration and seems to have an internal battle before relenting. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”

“Well, I’m not happy about any of it, so we’re even.” He snaps, before storming past them and heading to his room.

He flops on his bed and screams into his pillow, hoping the sound will be muffled. He sits up, having worn himself out, and looks around the room. His record player still holds the Queen album from the night before and Tony’s dress clothes are scattered around his room. He pushes himself off of his bed and kicks it all into his closet before slamming the door. He debates breaking the record in half, but he ultimately decides to carefully put it back in its sleeve and slide it to the back of his collection. Once all his physical reminders of his relationship are gone, he sits back down on his bed with a sigh, holding his head in his hands.

After a couple minutes, he is ripped out of his spiral by the phone ringing. He picks it up and winces when his voice comes out as more of a croak, “hello?”

“Hey, I heard you needed to talk to me?” Pepper chirps from the other end of the phone.

“Can I come to your house? I desperately need to leave here.”

Her tone gets much more serious, “Yeah, sure. What’s going on?”

“Can we wait a second?”

“Yeah, of course.”

He climbs out of his window and down the side of his house, trying to make as little noise as possible so he doesn’t alert his parents. Once he reaches the grass, he bolts across his front lawn to the house next door, moving as fast as possible to avoid the dew seeping into his socks.

When he gets to her porch, he doesn’t even have to knock before the door is swinging open and Pepper is ushering him inside.

“So?” She asks once they are properly situated on her couch.

“My dad found out about me and Steve.”

She deflates and leans against the back of the couch. “Oh god.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what happened?” She asks him, hesitant.

“He gave me an ultimatum: I can either commit to studying film and business to take over his company or I break up with Steve.”

The more he explains, the more her eyes widen. “What the hell? That’s borderline abusive! What did you do?”

“Well, I went to Steve’s. He dumped me.”

“What?”

“Yeah. He said he didn’t want to put me in the position of having to choose, so even though he loves me, he wants me to have a future.”

She puts a hand on his leg and looks at him in the eyes. “He’s right.”

“He’s right?” Tony’s eyebrows scrunch together, and he pulls away from her.

“Tony, you are being stupid. Steve is great, and he’s great for you, but you cannot choose him over the rest of your life. That would be incredibly dumb.”

His eyes drop to the floor and he taps his foot nervously. “Yeah, I know. I just wish it didn’t have to be like this.”

“Me too. Howard’s an asshole.”

“Yeah.”

She moves so she is sitting with her legs crossed on the couch, facing forward, her head on Tony’s shoulder. “Do you want to watch some cartoons with me?”

“Yes, please.”

As bad as Tony thought his Sunday was, it is nothing compared to Monday when he has to see Steve again. He walks into the cafeteria with Pepper and immediately scans the crowds for his ex-boyfriend. When he sees him, he is at his usual table, but with his sketchbook open and turned directly away from the table where they are headed. His position would be too much of a coincidence if it wasn’t intentional, as he is in the spot that would make it least likely that he would have to see him.

“He’s not even looking at me.” Tony whispers to his friend under his breath.

“Let’s go sit next to Clint and James, okay?” She gently guides him to where the others are.

They sit down next to each other across from their other friends. The boys seem shocked that he was sitting with them again, but to their credit they don’t mention it and continue on with their conversation as if it hasn’t been months since the two last sat there. They were in the middle of a discussion about some new horror film that just got released and Clint’s plan to take various girls to see it on a date.

Tony tries to straighten up and plaster a fake grin on his face so that his friends don’t notice anything. Fortunately, they seem too wrapped up in their conversation to look too closely at him. His smile quivers and his eyes are slightly puffy, and he wants nothing more than to curl up in a blanket and cry, but he pushes through it.

“I feel like shit, Pepper.” He whispers to her through his fake smile.

“I know. It’ll be like this for a while, but it’ll get better.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”


	10. Chapter 10

It’s been three months since they broke up. Tony hasn’t really talked to Steve since then, except for apologies when they run into each other and asking to borrow a pen. It is hard to put all your faith in someone and have them know you so well and then have them treat you like a stranger. Not that Tony can talk, because he hasn’t really put any effort into a conversation either.

Today is graduation. Their senior year is officially over. They are soon to be college students, which is just as scary as it sounds. Him and all of his friends are splitting up to go all over the country and he probably won’t see most of them ever again. He tries not to think about it.

Right now, Pepper and Tony are getting ready. Pepper is in a long white dress with tall tan heels, curling her hair in Tony’s bathroom, while he gets dressed in his room. He is wearing a white button down, black slacks, and dress shoes, and is attempting to tie his red tie.

“Pepper! Do you know how to tie a tie?” He calls out to her.

“No! Why would I?” She calls back.

“I don’t know! What am I supposed to do?”

“Ask one of your parents?”

He rolls his eyes even though she can’t see him. “They’re gone. They both had work this morning and are meeting me there.”

“Ugh, I guess I can try.”

She walks in with half of her hair curled and a scowl on her face.

“I know the motions; I just can’t do it.” He defends.

“Okay, tell me the steps and I’ll try.” She walks over and takes the tie and follows his instructions. After the third try, it finally works. “There!”

“You’re a life saver.” He grins at her.

“Are those dress shoes?” She looks at his feet, surprised.

“Yeah, why?”

“I didn’t think I’d live to see the day where you wore something other than those ratty Vans.”

“Had to outgrow them at some point.” He shrugs, before tightening his tie.

“Are you ready to go?” She asks him, grabbing her bag.

“Yeah, is there anything else you need?”

“Nope, let’s go.”

They walk outside and climb into his convertible. As he pulls out and the wind blows faster, Pepper attempts to flatten her hair to no avail.

“Can you please roll the top up? You’ll mess up my hair.” She scolds him.

“Come on, Pepper! Live a little. Aren’t you going to miss this?”

“We have all summer and I’m not going too far from you for college.” She frowns at him but doesn’t force him to raise the hood.

“It won’t be next door, though. Isn’t that sad?”

She sighs, exasperatedly. “Boston College is only twelve minutes away!”

“Compared to twenty seconds that’s forever.”

“Be quiet.” She puts his feet up on his dashboard. “Where is Clint going again?”

“He got into Pittsburgh on a football scholarship. He’s hoping to play for the Steelers, so we’ll see how that goes.”

“Wow.” She whistles, impressed.

“Yeah.” He thinks for a moment. “I’m gonna miss him.”

“Honestly? Me too.”

“You hate him.” Tony tells her, confused.

“Yeah and I’m going to miss the familiarity of hating him.” She looks around before asking him, “Do you have your speech with you?”

“Nah, I’m just gonna wing it.”

Her eyes widen and she smacks him. “Anthony Stark, you better be joking.”

“I am! Don’t worry. My notecards are in my pocket.”

“Good, because being valedictorian is impressive and you can’t screw this up for us.”

When he gets there, they have to rush through the school towards the classroom where their gowns are held. On the way, however, he bumps into his parents.

“Hi, Anthony!” His mom tells him, wrapping him in a hug.

“Hi mom.”

“I’ll meet you by the stage.” Pepper calls, disappearing into the crowd, as Tony pulls away from the hug.

“We are really proud of you.” Maria nudges her husband. “Aren’t we Howard?”

“Yes. Very proud.” He sniffs, looking bored.

Even though that wasn’t fully a compliment, his face practically glows with pride. “Thank you.”

“Now, you better head over there! You’re late!” She pushes him forward.

He steps through the door and bumps into someone. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault.” They respond.

He looks up and his dark eyes meet the bright blue ones belonging to Steve Rogers.

“Hi Steve.” Tony says, with a small smile.

“Hi Tony.”

“You have no idea.” He looks at the notecards in Tony’s hand. “Valedictorian, huh?”

“Yeah.” He fidgets with the notecards anxiously. “What are you doing for college?”

“I got into NYU. I applied to have a double major in art and literature.”

Tony’s eyes widen in amazement. “That’s incredible. I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks. I know you’ll do great at MIT.”

“Thank you. I’ve got to go; I still need to get my robes and everything.”

“Oh! Of course.” He starts to go before Tony calls out to him.

“Bye. It was really nice to talk to you.” He tells him sincerely.

“You too.”

About thirty minutes later, they are all situated on stage and the ceremony can begin. The principal talks for a few minutes, as Tony waits for his turn to talk. His leg jitters in anticipation and he keeps exchanging glances with Pepper, who is a few seats away from him. Finally, he is called up.

“I would like to welcome to the stage our valedictorian Anthony Stark!”

He stands up and walks up to the podium at the front. He lines up his notecards and addresses the audience with an award-winning smile and a cheerful, “Hi, everybody!”

His speech goes on for two minutes exactly, but it feels like forever. At the end, everyone cheers, and he spots his aunt, mom, and dad in the crowd somewhere towards the back, with honest smiles. He grins before sitting down.

After that is over, it is a whole lot of waiting. Not to be rude, but he doesn’t care about seeing every single person in his class get their diploma. Clint is the first of his friends to get his. He flashes a peace sign at the audience, causing a ripple of laughter. He goes a few minutes later and has to say, it is pretty amazing to get to hold his diploma and what it means. Thor is the next person he recognizes. Then Pepper Potts. Finally, the last of the people he knows is Steve.

At the end, he gets lots of compliments on his speech and congratulations for graduating. It is exhilarating.

After an hour of pictures and tear-filled goodbyes, his mom asks him, “Are you ready to go?”

He looks around at everyone, some people he’s known since elementary and middle school, and decides, “Yeah.”

That night, he finds himself going to Peggy’s diner. He is nostalgic and hungry, so he figures that would kill two birds with one stone. When he gets in, the diner is practically empty, not a surprise, except for a college aged kid working the register and a familiar blond sitting at a booth. Despite all the empty chairs, he decides to slide in across from him.

“I didn’t know you’d be here.” He greets him.

“Yeah, I miss this coffee. It’s even better when you don’t make it.” Steve teases.

“You’re a jerk.” Tony sighs and looks around wistfully at the diner. “We should keep in touch. You know, in college. We won’t be too far away.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Steve gives him a small, sheepish smile.

“Okay.” He stands up and walks towards the counter. “Want some coffee cake? I’ll pay.”

“I’d love some.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we have it! The last chapter of this story. I've really loved writing this, so I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as well. Also, let me know if you would want any one-shots from this universe. Comment and let me know your thoughts!! :)


End file.
